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February 17, 2010

Pressured libraries feel recession's financial pinch

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

BY ANDREA ALEXANDER
The Record
STAFF WRITER

WAYNE — The township library managed to avert a budget crisis this year that threatened its Sunday hours and even prompted a suggestion of furloughs. And those money troubles in the affluent township of 55,000 people may be a sign of what’s to come for libraries across North Jersey.

While the state’s budget crisis and its effects on schools and local governments have been making news, area libraries are quietly facing their own financial strife just when usage is skyrocketing.

"There is no question people are using fewer Netflix subscriptions, fewer Amazon purchases and definitely heading into the library," said Robert White, executive director of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS).

"The problem with libraries is their funding has been pressurized, but it doesn’t stop people from wanting to come use them," White said.
Library funding is tax-based: It’s tied directly to property values in a community. By law, libraries receive a minimum funding level equal to a certain percentage of the township’s overall equalized valuation — the worth of taxable property in the entire municipality. But for many communities in North Jersey, that number has been shrinking as the recession brings about foreclosures and successful property tax appeals. In Passaic County the minimum funding for libraries has decreased by more than 3 percent, and by about 1.75 percent for libraries in the Bergen County system.

While some local governments provide more than the minimum funding, a majority of libraries, including Wayne’s, receives only the amount required under law.
"Wayne was the flag-bearer here in that they got their information early and realized what it was going to be, but it will be happening all over the county,’’ said Ruth Bogan, executive director for PALS Plus, a consortium of libraries in Passaic and Essex counties.

Both BCCLS and PALS Plus promote resource sharing, provide computer services and advocate for their member libraries. BCCLS, with 75 members in the counties of Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Essex, represents about one-quarter of all libraries in the state. PALS Plus represents 18 libraries in the counties of Passaic and Essex. Directors of both systems worry that there are more bleak times ahead.

"For the most part, the assessed valuation for all of our communities has gone down because of the economy, and that is directly related to the amount of money libraries get to run," Bogan said. "That to me is the most threatening aspect right now. … I think we are waiting to hear what the bad news will be."

The change has left some libraries, such as Pompton Lakes’, waiting to hear if the municipal government will provide more than the minimum funding required to maintain a stable budget. The New Milford library may consider closing on Sundays, and the River Edge library could face staff cuts if funding is reduced.

Most area libraries are in the early stages of compiling their budgets and determining what measures, if any, are needed to deal with a possible decrease in funding.
White says he warns libraries in BCCLS to plan for a 10 percent drop in minimum funding levels when new numbers come out in the fall. And, he said, libraries can expect continued funding troubles.

"I think this is the first of it," White said. "I think the hard times are still to come."
In addition to serving as a place for people to check out books, movies and music, libraries provide services for people job hunting and dealing with other realities of the recessions. For example, statewide 100 librarians were trained to help patrons fill out electronic unemployment forms.

If libraries were forced to cut back on hours it would mean people like area resident Mary Cunningham would have less time for job hunting on the computer or John and Theresa Chironis of Wayne, would have to find somewhere else to take their grandchildren on Sundays.
"I’m usually here for six-seven hours a day looking for jobs, then I go to Mapquest to see how far they are," said Cunningham, who visits the Wayne library every day to job hunt.
Reduced funding, White said, also would mean "there may not be as many copies of best sellers on the shelf, there will be more self help along the way in terms of staffing and Sunday hours are one the things that could absolutely get cut."

Officials in Wayne were able to divert a crisis this year by closing a $93,000 budget gap while avoiding staff cuts or closing on Sundays. Because the township’s tax base has decreased in value, the library budget dropped from $4,011,646 in 2009 to $3,939,483 this year.
Township auditors allowed the library to carry over about $29,000 in unspent funds from 2009 from salaries, electricity, phone usage and postage line items that otherwise would have been lost, said Director Jody Treadway. The library also used about $15,000 in state aid usually set aside for emergencies and received an unexpected $13,500 grant to cover the costs of a homework help program to balance the budget. It additionally has received $3,000 in donations since its money troubles have become known, Treadway said.

"It’s a big relief," she said. "We are not reducing anyone’s salaries, there are no furloughs, the part-timers are not taking a reduction in the hours they work and we are going to be able to stay open Sundays."
E-mail: alexandera@northjersey.com

Posted by tumulty at February 17, 2010 4:34 PM

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