More than a decade ago, Patty Burgess moved to Fallston for the recreation council, the local pools and the library.

But she may lose the latter on June 30 because the Harford County Public Library Board of Trustees wants to close the Fallston branch because of budget reductions.

The closing, announced late Friday, is scheduled to take effect July 1, when the new budget year begins. The library board does plan to hold a public hearing on its decision Thursday from 6 to 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Bel Air branch on Hickory Avenue. The hearing will precede the board’s regular monthly meeting.

Alarmed at the turn of events, the Harford County Council at its meeting Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution urging the library board to keep all 11 branches open.

The council’s 5 percent reduction of several agency budgets, including the library’s, is being blamed for the planned Fallston branch closing. Tuesday’s resolution is not binding on the library trustees and administration.

Councilman James McMahan called the Fallston branch a “sacrificial lamb” and suggested the library board made a political decision because it affects what he called “passionate clientele,” people like Patty Burgess.

“This community had everything we needed and I was willing to purchase a home in Fallston and now we’re losing that resource,” Burgess said earlier in the day Tuesday. “It will greatly impact me personally. I now no longer have a library close to my home.”

Burgess is just one of hundreds of Fallston residents who have voiced their concerns or signed petitions about their branch possibly closing. Burgess herself started two petitions.

According to Burgess, she has more than 100 electronic signatures on one of her petitions and more than 100 signatures on a handwritten petition. There is also a petition with more than 100 signatures at the 7-Eleven on Pleasantville Road.

In addition, a Web site, www.savefallstonlibrary.com, has been established since Friday.

“Obviously reading is very important and I strongly feel that taking that out of our community hurts our community,” Burgess said.

In addition to shutting the Fallston library for good, the library board is expected to vote Thursday on Sunday branch closings and the fiscal year 2010 operating and capital budgets.

In fiscal year 2008, the last for which complete figures are available, the Fallston branch had a circulation of nearly 345,000, up 11.78 percent from fiscal year 2007, which made it the fourth busiest branch behind Bel Air, Abingdon and Aberdeen. Also in fiscal year 2008, Fallston made up 7.72 percent of the library’s total circulation of 4.4 million.

Harford County Councilman Joe Woods, whose district includes Fallston, said Tuesday he has received many e-mails from citizens concerned about the pending closure.

“It’s going to be ridiculous,” Woods said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep the branch open. I don’t think anyone should go without a service the county has been offering for years.”

Greg Seltzer, who represents the Fallston area on the Harford County Public Library Board of Trustees, is also upset about the decision.

“I’m a little bit incensed at the way this developed,” Seltzer, who has also received numerous calls and e-mails about the issue, said. “I can’t process it very well. I’m the Fallston representative to the board and I was probably the last person to be notified on the board.”

Seltzer is also committed to doing whatever it takes to keep the Fallston branch open.

“I’ll write a $52 check to [Harford County Treasurer] John Scotten if that’s what it takes to keep the Fallston library open,” Seltzer said, citing the county council’s recent reduction to the county’s property tax rate, which amounts to about a $50 a year saving for an average Fallston homeowner.

Seltzer said he is also concerned with the library moving forward on projects such as building a Churchville branch and reconstruction of the Whiteford branch.

“Put some other library projects on hold and perhaps we can save money in those areas,” Seltzer said. “I think in this day and time we need our libraries more than ever.”

A press release announcing the impending Fallston branch closing said it is “necessary in order to balance the HCPL fiscal year 2010 operating budget.” According to the release, the most recent 5 percent reduction by the Harford County Council left the library’s annual allotment of county funds for the next fiscal year at $1.6 million less than current funding.

“Nobody on the board or the staff wanted to close the library,” Harford County Public Library Director Audra Caplan said. “We took another $800,000 cut and now we have $1.6 million cut this year, that’s over 10 percent of the budget. We furloughed people, we froze positions, so when this cut came, there was no fat left.”

Prior to the 5 percent cut in May, the press release noted, the library trustees had already voted for a budget that reduces materials spending by 5.4 percent, furloughs all staff and closes branches for five days and reduces by two the number of branches open on Sunday next year. In addition, 20 positions have been frozen, and many other reductions were made.

In addition to the branch closing there will be employee layoffs and further reductions to the materials budget, the press release warned.

If the board votes to close the Fallston branch, Caplan said Tuesday the branch’s employees will be distributed throughout the library where there are vacancies.

“There will be layoffs, but they will be done according to board policy on layoffs,” Caplan said.

The Fallston branch materials will also be distributed throughout the library system if the branch is closed.

Caplan said the executive committee of the board had a long meeting where committee members “looked at a million different alternatives.”

“The only way to keep the system going is by closing service at the branch,” Caplan said.

Specific issues factored into closing Fallston include the age of the building; the branch is not easily accessible on foot and has low walk-in traffic; its poor location and dangerous vehicle access; the close proximity to the newest branches in Bel Air (seven miles), Jarrettsville (eight miles) and Abingdon (nine miles); and a low percentage of computer use compared to other branch locations.

Opened in 1984, the Fallston branch is on Route 152 at Friendship Road.

“It’s a very awful situation,” Caplan said. “This has been the worst week of my life. It’s really bad. Nobody wants the branch to close.”

Bill Nicodemus, chairman of the Harford County Public Library Board of Trustees, agreed the decision to close the Fallston branch was a hard one.

“Basically, none of us want to do it,” Nicodemus said Tuesday. “We have gone through the entire budget more than once to try to determine where we can save money and we are cutting back every place we can to try to keep enough money available to keep branches open. We’re at the point now where we just cannot do it.”

Even though the Fallston branch may be closing, Caplan wants to remind people there are still 10 other branches in the Harford County Public Library system.

“We’re hoping we can keep the rest of the branches going because we can do this,” Caplan said. “We’re still closing some of the branches on Sunday. There are still 10 other branches all within fairly easy driving distance of one another. We still have a good library system.”

According to Caplan, anyone wishing to speak during Thursday’s public meeting will have two minutes.

“We really want people to know the board and the library administration have not taken this lightly. We looked very closely at everything. It’s something no one anticipated would happen or wanted to do,” Caplan said. “Every community loves their library and this is the decision that has been made to be able to preserve the library system.”

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