More than 3,000 Washington County residents who lost the use of their library card because they failed to pay overdue item processing fees are given a reprieve under an approved plan Tuesday by the Washington County Council.

The board voted to remove the existing $8 processing fee on library patron accounts, said Amy Stenftenagel, director of the library.

Although customers weren’t charged late daily fines, customers were charged an $8 fee when they had extremely late materials – books more than six weeks late or DVDs / video games over three weeks late, she said.

Library patrons with overdue materials will still have to pay the cost of replacement materials unless they are returned, she said.

“Removing existing processing fees from patron accounts will further reduce barriers for residents and make access to library resources more equitable,” Stenftenagel said.

More than 1,000 of the customers who have lost their cards are minors “who could access free educational resources and library assistance,” she said. Overall, more than 7,000 residents will have processing fees removed from their library accounts; the county collected about $30,000 a year in processing fees.