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April 18, 2010

E. Hanover to explore changing way library is funded

Mayor, council want to put issue on November ballot
By Jake Remaly • Staff Writer • April 17, 2010
dailyrecord.com

EAST HANOVER — The mayor and council voted unanimously this week to have the township's attorney to check the legal requirements for adding a referendum to the November ballot that would take away the library's municipal status and change the way the library is funded.

The East Hanover Library is currently a "free public library," meaning the state dictates that a percentage of the town's tax base must go to the library, even if it's more than the library needs. Some officials say that is the case in East Hanover.

Library director Gayle Carlson said that if the library were to lose its municipal status, there are no guarantees as to how it would be funded, and the library would lose out on state aid and grant opportunities. Residents voted on a referendum establishing the free public library in the 1960s, Carlson said.

If voters were to decide to take away the library's municipal status, and the library was run by a nonprofit corporation as an "association" library, the council would have discretion over how much money the library receives from the town.

The state formula currently dictates the library will receive $1,346,258 this year, an increase of about $100,000 from the previous year because East Hanover's tax base increased.

"In our case, they get more than they need because of this formula," township administrator Joseph Tempesta said.

"Over the years, they've been able to tuck away some of the excess into the surplus account, which is hovering somewhere around $1 million," he said.

The library's trustees voted recently to hire an architect to show how the East Hanover Library could use its savings to renovate and possibly add a computer lab. Carlson said those plans are suspended indefinitely.

The council voted unanimously to move ahead with adding the referendum at its Monday night meeting.

Tempesta, Mayor Joseph Pannullo, Carlson and the library board President Ceil DiMarzio recently met, with the town asking for $448,000 from the library surplus to offset a loss in state aid, Tempesta said.

The East Hanover library board was willing to do that but, because it's a free public library, a state formula dictates the most the library could give the town is $118,000, and that amount would still need to be approved by the state librarian, Tempesta said.

The library this year budgeted about $850,000 for salaries and benefits, and $150,000 for materials, Carlson has said. It also budgets for maintenance, computers, utilities, insurance and programming, among other expenses.

Tempesta said the mayor and council are "very, very supportive of the library," but want to be able to give what is needed to run library operations without having to give more than that.
Jake Remaly: 973-428-6621; jremaly1@gannett.com

Posted by tumulty at April 18, 2010 1:12 PM

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