CRANBURY: Library surplus may soften tax hike

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
   CRANBURY — Township officials are looking to the library to help ease the burden on taxpayers this coming budget season.
   Representatives from the Cranbury Public Library recently revealed to the Township Committee that it had more than $500,000 in surplus funds.
   Mayor Pari Stave attended the latest library board of trustees meeting, asking members to consider looking at different ways to financially assist the township.
   It has been suggested by committee members that one way the library could help would be to give some of those surplus funds back to the municipality, which would then be used to stabilize the tax rate.
   State legislation that passed in April permits a municipal board of library trustees to transfer surplus funds to a municipality for tax relief under certain conditions.
   In addition, the state mandates that Cranbury allocate approximately $616,000 to the library for the 2009 budget, which comes out to be around 3.5 cents of the municipal tax rate, said Denise Marabello, Cranbury’s chief financial officer.
   This year, the municipal tax rate is 40 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Under that rate, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $668,923 paid $2,675 in municipal taxes.
   ”We’re still trying to get information as to how this would work,” Ms. Smeltzer said. “But I think the Township Committee feels any kind of help with the budget would be welcome.”
   Another suggestion has been that the library could help fund portions of certain municipal programs, such as the Recreation Department or the township’s Senior Center.
   Currently, most the Recreation Department is mostly funded through fees that are attached to its various programs, Ms. Smeltzer said.
   As for the Senior Center, a $12,000 county grant from 2007 intended to fund programs as well as the initial set-up has nearly dried up, leading the organization to look for additional money elsewhere, she said..
   ”The proposition is out there: How can we help the township?” Library Director Marilynn Mullen said. “It’s something the board has been discussing. We’re trying to decide what is the best method to do that.”
   Ms. Mullen told committee members that the surplus had accumulated over several years and that the funds were being set aside in case of a change in the lease agreement with the school.
   Currently, the public library is housed on the school’s property and operates in conjunction with its library.
   If school officials ever decide to end the agreement, representatives could have as little as a year to find a new facility, Ms. Mullen said.
   Should such an incident occur, the library has been saving its surplus funds to help with possible relocation costs, such as furnishing a building, she said.
   ”We think it would be prudent to have money put aside for that,” Ms. Mullen said.
   Recently, representatives for the library have been assessing their own budget, looking at items like emergency funds, capital expenditures and operating costs, to more accurately account for their surplus in the coming year, she said.
   ”We have money in the bank, but some of it is already spent,” Ms. Mullen said.
   If the board chooses to give some of the surplus back, she said, there are a lot of requirements, mandates and red tape to cut through before anything could move forward.
   ”I don’t think we’ll know before March what we’ll do,” Ms. Mullen said.