No other NJ town has ever stopped sypporting library
By: Bill Greenwood
JAMESBURG If Jamesburg voters approve a proposed ballot question in November, the borough would be the first town in New Jersey to end municipal support for its library without having a county system to fall back on, according to officials from the New Jersey Library Association and the Jamesburg library.
Pat Tumulty, executive director of the New Jersey Library Association, said voters in only two towns Lakewood in Ocean County and Bound Brook in Somerset County have approved referendums ending state-mandated municipal funding for their public libraries. State law requires that municipal public libraries be provided a minimum appropriation equal to one-third of a mil of the equalized valuation of a municipality.
However, those towns voted to remove funding because county libraries had been established in those areas, Ms. Tumulty said. A county library system is a joint library composed of member towns and generally funded by a dedicated library tax. Middlesex County does not have a county library.
The Borough Council is considering placing a referendum on the November ballot that would ask voters for approval to end municipal support for the library. The council cannot reduce or end its library subsidy without approval from voters.
The council plans to hold two public meetings the first on June 13 at 7 p.m. and the second sometime in July to get feedback from residents. The council would need to approve an ordinance by mid-August to place a public question on the ballot.
Officials have said that library spending is one of the few areas of the borough’s budget that has increased since 2002 and one of only four areas of discretionary spending in the budget that could be cut. The others are garbage collection, police and public works.
Officials say future increases could result in cuts to other programs because of a new law that limits increases in tax levies or the total amount raised in taxes for municipal services to 4 percent.
Library funding is set to increase 17 percent under the proposed borough budget, from $145,650 last year to $170,472 in 2007. This year, library funding would account for 3.2 percent of the proposed overall budget of $5.28 million, compared to 2.8 percent of the total budget for 2006.
Jamesburg Mayor Ton LaMantia said he does not want to close the library, but the borough needs to cut its tax levy next year to stay under the new cap. He said the Borough Council currently is lobbying Gov. Jon Corzine to amend the library-funding law, which was established in 1951, to allow municipalities to negotiate with libraries in certain circumstances. He said towns should be able to sit down with their libraries to come up with a fair amount of funding every year, just as they do with other departments.
"Instead of a mandate, we’re willing to work with the library and the library board is willing to work with us to keep it open," he said.
He said the council and the library board had reached an agreement in which the borough would provide less funding in next year’s budget but would conduct more fundraisers to benefit the library. He said that agreement was rejected by the state.
"The state is saying you have to fund it to the fullest or close the doors," he said.
That is why the borough is considering the ballot question, he said.
If the ballot question is approved, the library would have three options: close its doors; become an "association library" or join with another municipality in a joint-library arrangement, Ms. Tumulty said.
If it were to become an association library, the Jamesburg library would have to rely primarily on fundraising and donations to stay open. It also could receive funding from the borough, though it would be optional, and some state aid, which would depend on the amount of money provided by the borough, Ms. Tumulty said.
The state provides libraries that receive at least one-third of a mil in funding some towns, like Monroe and South Brunswick, provide more than the state requires with about $1.25 per resident, she said. If the library’s municipal funding were to fall below one-fifth of a mil, which could happen under an association arrangement, the state would likely provide less than $1 per resident, she said.
In addition, municipalities typically give $10 less per capita to association libraries than to municipal libraries, she said, which means that association libraries tend to have more financial difficulties.
"In general, we’ve certainly seen that association libraries are more poorly funded and can’t give the level of service that a municipal library can give," she said.
She said the Jamesburg library would need to file to become a nonprofit organization with the state secretary of state’s office if it wished to become an association library, adding that no municipal public library in New Jersey has ever done so without a county system to fall back on.
The Jamesburg Public Library operated as an association library from 1930 to 1981. In 1981, the library became short on funds because the borough cut its funding from $2,000 each year to $200 each year, and the state decreased its aid by 80 percent because the library could not afford to purchase its quota of 440 books. Residents then voted to municipalize the library.
Jamesburg Library Director Cindy Yasher said last week that it would be "difficult" to go back to being an association library. She said its success would depend on how much money the borough would be willing to provide.
The library also could ask the borough to approach another town, like Monroe, to create a joint library, Ms. Tumulty and Ms. Yasher said. In order for a joint library to be formed, a referendum must be approved in both towns, Ms. Tumulty said.
Under such an agreement, the equalized value of both towns would be combined and a minimum appropriation of one-third of a mil of that combined number would need to be split by the towns. Ms. Tumulty said the percentage of the library budget funded by each town would be negotiated by the two towns and could be assigned based on the percentage of tax ratables, population or land mass.
Ms. Tumulty said there are six joint libraries in New Jersey, including the Princeton Public Library, which serves Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, and the Morristown and Morris Township Library. That number does not include county systems.
Ms. Yasher said last week that she believes no other library in New Jersey has closed completely, and the Jamesburg library could be the first to do so if the referendum is approved and another alternative cannot be found.
"There have been mergers and libraries going together to form joint libraries, but a library hasn’t been closed in New Jersey," she said.

