BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer
“Sticking your head in the sand and hoping that the state is going to come and save the day is foolish.” – Brian Grimes councilman JAMESBURG – After gleaning hope from a meeting with state officials, the Borough Council voted to hold off on an ordinance that would have brought a November referendum on the fate of the Jamesburg Public Library.
LaMantia, along with councilmen Joseph Jennings, Otto Kostbar and John Longo, attended a meeting arranged by state Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein. The assistant counsel for Gov. Jon Corzine and two representatives from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) asked borough officials to wait on the referendum until all other possibilities have been explored, Jennings said.
“After attending the meeting yesterday … I feel a lot more comfortable that we have many different avenues to address later in the year,” Jennings said.
“I feel that it was a very good meeting,” Mayor Anthony LaMantia said. “The outcome, to me, was that they’re working very hard on changing things.”
A major concern for Jamesburg officials is that state-mandated increases in the borough’s library spending will make it nearly impossible for them to meet the state-imposed 4 percent cap on municipal spending increases next year.
Though legislation proposing a permanent blanket waiver that would place libraries outside the 4 percent cap was voted down, state officials proposed other options for Jamesburg.
One possible solution to the library issue will come if state legislators are successful in their attempts to make changes to the mandatory contributions from municipalities to their public libraries during November’s “lame duck” session, Kostbar said.
State law dictates that the town must give its library one-third of a mill per $100 of assessed value in the municipality. Due to the rising value of homes in Jamesburg over the past decade, that formula has forced the town to increase its library expenditures by about 15 percent each year.
According to Kostbar, the blanket waiver did not go through because it would not have addressed the crucial issue of the mandated contributions, which are pushing smaller municipalities into tight budgetary spots.
If the “lame duck” session efforts prove unsuccessful, Kostbar said, the next step would be for Jamesburg to apply for a one-time waiver to take the library out of the cap.
“If the waiver were denied, our next step would be to get the referendum on,” Kostbar said.
If the council were to move forward with the referendum, it would have been a ballot question in November, when the most voters turn out. It could still, however, be introduced in February or March, Kostbar said.
LaMantia also mentioned the possibility of a different referendum, which would ask voters if town officials could exceed the 4 percent spending cap. Doing so may result in a higher tax increase.
Though most of the council was amenable to the idea of waiting things out, Councilman Brian Grimes voiced concerns. Reading from a written statement, he criticized New Jersey legislators for overspending that results in higher taxes for municipalities throughout the state.
Grimes specifically cited the $68 billion shortfall in the state pension fund, which he said will help to push property taxes up.
“When a hurricane is coming, you board up your house, get canned food, bottled water and batteries,” Grimes said. “You prepare a defense against great forces that might destroy your home and you seek to protect your family. I believe that Jamesburg has to do the same with the looming fiscal storm coming from Trenton.”
Saying Corzine has stated that he would like to see the consolidation of towns throughout New Jersey, Grimes questioned why the mayor and other council members would expect to get relief from state legislators.
“Sticking your head in the sand and hoping that the state is going to come and save the day is foolish,” Grimes said. “Actions speak louder than words, and all of Trenton’s actions point towards the fact that they do not want our town to exist anymore.”
Though Grimes stood alone on his vote to move forward with the referendum, Kostbar later told the Sentinel that he supported Grimes’ message out about the situation in Trenton.
“Mr. Grimes’ dissent was absolutely needed,” Kostbar said. “This needs to go on record.”
Borough officials have discussed replacing the public library with an association library if the referendum is held and it pushes the existing one to close. Association libraries glean their budgets from fundraising and discretionary funding from the town.
Grimes expressed his support of this alternative, saying it would not force the town to contribute more to the library than is necessary for its operations, as the mandate now does. He proposed increasing funding to the library by 3 to 4 percent per year, as opposed to the typical 15 percent that it is receiving now.
Carole Hetzel, a member of the library’s board of trustees, asked the council how the public could be assured that an association library would be adequately funded. She cited a time decades ago when the council drastically cut funding for Jamesburg’s then-association library, saying it dipped as low as $250 for the year at one point.
“I don’t think we can judge ourselves on what the council did 25 years ago, 30 years ago,” Kostbar said. “But we’re not at that point now.”
Kostbar urged the library board of trustees to help put pressure on legislators to work toward a solution for Jamesburg, saying they play an important role in the process of getting relief for the town.
“It does sound promising,” Hetzel said. “We’ll hope it works.”