Politics & Government

Rising Costs of Library System Spark County Concerns

Board of Chosen Freeholders approved a resolution establishing the 2013 tax levy by a vote of 4-1.

An increase in the county library tax was approved but not without one Freeholder voicing concerns that the system is “running amok.”

“There has to be a drastic overhaul of the library system,” Freeholder John Curley said at the regular Board of Chosen Freeholders meeting on June 13. Curley was the lone vote against a resolution establishing the 2013 library tax levy.

“All of our departments, since I’ve been here in January 2010, have been asked to cut because of the difficult economic times and in an attempt to balance budgets,” he said.

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That is, except the library system, which has expanded over the years, according to Curley, who proposed bringing a consultant in to scrutinize its operations.

The Freeholders approved a $13.6 million tax levy to support the library system's $19.2 million budget. The increase will bring an approximate $5 increase for the year to the average homeowner living in a municipality that participates in the system.

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“Raising taxes on a local communities who have gone through very difficult times with Superstorm Sandy and asking them to pay more money for a library service when so many people are out of work, and as we know there are so many people in the county that are hungry, that I just don’t think the tax levy is prudent,” Curley said.

Although, Curley said the library has increased the number of employees, Monmouth County Libraries Director Ken Sheinbaum told NJ.com that the staff has been reduced by 8 percent over the past eight months. This system is the epitome of efficiency and doing more with less, he said.

While the library system absorbed the staffing of libraries in Long Branch in 2010 and Atlantic Highlands in 2011, the system has had a hiring freeze since November 2012 and has lost 14 employees. Over the last 18 months, the salary line item has decreased $500,000, Sheinbaum told NJ.com.

The library system’s budget has decreased approximately $650,000 since 2012 but the gap between that budget and the tax levy has increased with a growing shortfall. Money to make up that shortfall comes from the Monmouth County’s surplus funds, Curley said. In 2007, more than $4 million was utilized to balance the library system’s budget. In 2013, approximately $6 million will be spent to keep the library afloat.

“The library has just grown beyond its capability,” Curley said. “I’m very much concerned over these expenditures and how the library needs to wean itself in.”

Curley called the system “wonderful,” but one that just can’t sustain itself, foreseeing bankruptcy in its future.

Sheinbaum explained that the fund balance is a library surplus from the system’s own reserve, according to NJ.com.

But that reserve has shrunk, library board member and mayor of Millstone Nancy Grbelja said at the Freeholder meeting. The system has gone without a tax levy increase for years because they dipped into that fund balance.

Expenses have risen as additional costs have been put on the system, she said. In 2011, the library was hit with $3.5 million of costs such as utilities, attorney fees and maintenance that had to come out of its budget. The county previously supported those costs.

“The absorption of that, as well as other libraries we brought in, ate away our fund balance,” she said. “We are at the point where we need to increase our tax levy only to replenish the fund balance so that the library can stay healthy as we move forward.”

The library system is cognizant of the impact a tax increase could have on communities, Grbelja said.

“It really is important because we do have an excellent library system,” she said. “We do provide a lot of services to those individuals who don’t have money, that don’t have a job.”

But changes can still be made, Grbelja said, and the library system is looking at staffing and staggering schedules. It is also trying to cut costs and increase grant funding.

“We do have a plan,” she said.

There are 24 member libraries in Monmouth County out of 53 municipalities, and the library has added three libraries in a decade, Freeholder Lillian Burry said.

“I think it’s unfortunate we’ve reached the point where we think of the library expenditures as running amok. They have filled quite a need during these times,” she said, adding that residents see the library as a “refuge.”

Ray Kalainikas, of Manalapan, said during public comment that he sees taxation as a “form of thievery.”

“I would like to see the tax levy drop by 2 percent,” he said. “You have a moral obligation to do it.”


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