DeBruin said the current formula, which uses a percentage of a town's total property value to determine the amount to paid to municipal libraries, has become a tax burden to residents as property values continue to rise.
"It is too much to ask the taxpayers to pay that kind of money," DeBruin said, adding that the borough budgeted upward of $500,000 for the pubic library this year, using the current formula in place.
"The [formula] is anachronistic, is archaic, and we should come up with something that is more reasonable, so that we can have a municipal, free public library, but it won't cost the taxpayers an inordinate amount of money, which allows some free public libraries to amass $600,000 in their coffers," DeBruin said.
DeBruin is expected to present the league with his proposal at the organization's November meeting. The league will then present it to the state, DeBruin said.
"I'm proposing that we go this year and let West Long Branch be the point person to propose that we change the formula for municipal, public libraries," De- Bruin said.
The funding a municipal, public library receives is currently determined by a state statute that dates back to the 1980s, according to DeBruin.
Under the statute, the borough is required to appropriate a portion of its yearly budget toward the library. The amount the library to receive is calculated by using a formula that calls for a certain percentage of all property value in a town to be set aside for the municipal library, DeBruin said.
As property values continue to increase, the amount of funds that must be allocated to the borough also increase, according to DeBruin.
He said that the funding formula has not been adjusted to reflect the significant increases in property values in today's economy.
West Long Branch's equivalent valuation is approximately $1.35 billion, and after applying the formula, the borough was required to appropriate more than $500,000 to the library this year, according to DeBruin.
He criticizes the current formula because he says the formula is not altered to reflect changes after a town performs property revaluations.
Municipalities perform revaluations in order to ensure that property values properly reflect current market trends. As a result, property values can increase, decrease or remain the
same. West Long Branch performed its last revaluation in 2005.
"Back in the 1980s, the equivalent valuation was significantly less, so towns were budgeting under $100,000 for the library," DeBruin said.
"We went through a revaluation in 2005 and the property values in West Long Branch almost doubled," he said.
As a result of the revaluation, De- Bruin said that the borough saw an adjustment to its tax rate, but not to the formula that the borough must use to budget funding for the library.
The cost of funding the town's public library became an issue during the borough's 2008 budget-planning sessions, according to DeBruin, who said allocating over $500,000 for the library is asking too much from borough taxpayers.
At that time, DeBruin suggested making the borough library a branch of the Monmouth County Library System. The West Long Branch Library is currently a member of the county system, but is operated by the municipality.
If the municipal library becomes a branch of the county system, the borough would no longer be required to follow the state public library funding formula, according to DeBruin, who said that he is still moving forward with the borough's effort to make the public library a branch of the county's system.
"Let's approach [the funding issue] in more than one way," DeBruin said.
Turning the borough library into a county branch could save taxpayers $387,000, according to DeBruin.
"Right now [the proposal to transfer the library to the county system] is still under investigation," DeBruin said.
Daniel Howley can be reached at
dhowley@gmnews.com.