After months of debate, the West Long Branch Borough Council adopted an ordinance that officially turns the borough library over to the Monmouth County Library System.
Adopted during the Dec. 30 meeting by a 3-1 vote, the ordinance finalizes a contract between West Long Branch and the county that changes the status of the borough’s free municipal library from a member of the county system to a branch. The move is projected to save the municipality roughly $200,000 a year.
Council members Barbara Ruane and Steven Cioffi were not in attendance for the meeting. The sole dissenting vote against the ordinance was cast by Councilman John Hegarty, who said he is skeptical that turning the library over to the county will save the borough any money in the long run.
“I just don’t feel good about it,” Hegarty said following the meeting, adding that because the county will now cover expenses for the library that would otherwise have been covered by the borough, the move is essentially burdening other Monmouth County communities with additional taxes.
“I’m not convinced that we are going to experience all of the savings that they are talking about,” he said.
Hegarty said he fears that the projected savings will be outweighed in the future by the possibility that other towns will follow the borough’s lead and turn their libraries over to the county in an effort to cut costs, thus impacting county taxes.
“It’s really good for West Long Branch immediately, but it’s not good for the rest of the communities in Monmouth County, because their rates are going to go up in order to cover our rate,” Hegarty explained. “Our county tax rate is going to go up to absorb that cost.”
The council’s approval of the ordinance follows a November public referendum that saw overwhelming support for turning the library over to the county. The referendum vote, which took place during general elections on Nov. 3, saw an overwhelming 69 percent of borough voters cast their ballots in favor of the change.
The debate over the library’s status had been simmering for months prior to the vote, with those in favor of turning the library over and those against the plan engaging in, at times, heated exchanges over the benefits of the move.
According to Councilman J. Thomas De- Bruin, who favored the transfer of the library to the county, the borough will see a tax savings as a result of the elimination of the amount of state-mandated funding the borough was required to provide to the library.
According to state guidelines, a municipality that operates a free municipal public library is required by law to provide funding for that library based on the total assessed property valuation of the municipality. For West Long Branch, that number was equal to $477,000 in 2009. In addition, the borough also spent an additional $200,000 a year to be a member of the county’s library system.
With the library part of the county system, the borough will continue to pay annual dues of $200,000 to the county. The municipality will also pay an additional $100,000 a year to cover upkeep of the library building and the cost of periodicals.
The remainder of the library’s costs will be assumed by the county.
Despite fears that the library would see a reduction in service and that current employees would lose their jobs, Mayor Janet Tucci said the new arrangement has essentially extended the library’s overall hours and provided some employees with better positions than they previously held.
According to Tucci, the only remaining issue concerning the library has to do with the funds that the library board has accrued as a result of the borough’s state-mandated obligation, which had ballooned to some $500,000.
“It’s the [funds] that we gave to the library by law, that they wisely invested,” Tucci explained. “They didn’t spend it all, so they invested it and it’s accumulated. It’s quite a bit of money, and they also realized that, and they would like to continue maybe to enhance the library, because we still are responsible for the building.”
In order to determine how the borough should move forward, Borough Attorney Gregory Baxter is expected to contact the State Library Commission for guidance. However, because the situation is unique, Baxter said, the commission is unlikely to know how to deal with the situation.
“We have been questioned by the public [about] what is going to happen to that fund,” Tucci said. “So it’s not just something the library is concerned with, but the public is concerned with also. So that’s why Mr. Baxter is going to be writing a letter to the State Library Commission.”
Contact Daniel Howley at
dhowley@ gmnews.com.