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February 3, 2010

West Long Branch to get library windfall

app.com Feb. 2, 2010
By CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • February 2, 2010
WEST LONG BRANCH — The soon-to-be-defunct West Long Branch Library Board of Trustees is dumping a potential windfall of more than a half million dollars into the municipal treasury, helping borough taxpayers.

The board, which ran the library for decades, is no longer required for that function after the Poplar Avenue facility was absorbed Jan. 1 by the Monmouth County Library system. Voters chose that path in a referendum in November.

While the board ponders its future — three members already have resigned — it has accumulated some $528,205 that its members and borough officials agree belongs to the residents of West Long Branch.

Mayor Janet W. Tucci said officials are researching how best to return the money to the people. While residents likely should not expect individual rebate checks, the money could mean less property tax would be required to fund municipal budgets, maybe even for the next few years.

"We've written to the state library board to see if there is a protocol for handling this," Tucci said. "The money belongs to the residents of West Long Branch and the board is trying to find a way to return it in a beneficial way."

Former library trustee Carol Herskowitz has resigned, joining outgoing trustee Marie Sorrentino and former trustee head Robert Faccone, leaving ranking trustee James B. Delehanty Jr. with part of the task of deciding how to return the money.

"It has never been done before, so we have to figure out how to do it correctly," Delehanty said. "My intention is to return the money to the town. Hopefully it will be used to lower taxes and to improve conditions at the library."

He said the money is the result of interest that accumulated on investments between 2000 and 2010. "We improved the library as much as we could" before the county takeover, he said.
Before her Jan. 14 resignation, Herskowitz said the library board had written to Victoria Rosch, associate state librarian, for guidance. "We want to do this in the most timely manner," Herskowitz said of returning the funds to the borough.

The windfall resulted after the borough found itself in a unique situation: out of all of New Jersey's towns, it was the only community whose taxpayers had become obligated to pay twice for library services.

Officials are not sure when this glitch first occurred. But each year, taxpayers forked over the equivalent of the standard municipal formula for their local library. Then they paid again when Monmouth County came calling, collecting its dedicated tax for the county library.
Borough Chief Financial Officer Gail M. Watkins said she does not know when the borough began the pricey practice, only that it has been in place for many years, and could date to the library's creation. The county system was established in 1922; West Long Branch started its library in 1927.

Councilman J. Thomas DeBruin said the library dissolution will likely save more than $400,000 in 2010, although the borough still must pay building costs, for newspapers and periodicals and the library's Internet connection. He estimates the borough's contribution at about $50,000 annually.
The borough's burden can be further reduced, DeBruin suggested, if the library's $528,000 is dedicated to library purposes. DeBruin said the bulk of it should go back to library costs, further reducing the borough's tax liability.

Posted by tumulty at February 3, 2010 5:42 PM

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