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April 30, 2010

Library Trustees Warn of "Grave Danger"

Baristanet

Wednesday, April 28, 2010
On Monday we spotted this "Budget Cuts: Library Closed" sign in front of the Montclair Public Library. It turns out that this was the first week of new hours forced by anticipated cuts in the 2010 municipal budget. The main library will be closed Mondays, which will also be the only day of the week that the Bellevue Avenue branch library will be open. Previously, the main branch was open seven days a week and the Bellevue Avenue branch was open six days a week.

But the attention-grabbing sign isn't the only way the library is fighting back. Seven members of the Montclair Board of Trustees have put their own money into buying ad that will run in tomorrow's issue of the Montclair Times. The ad headline is "The Montclair Public Library is in Grave Danger" and argues that the proposed budget cuts in the current township budget are unfair to the library and "make no financial sense."

The quarter-page ad warns that the proposed 20 percent budget reduction will "decimate" library service, that main branch hours will be "cut in half" and that resources for students will be cut by two thirds.

Cliff Kulwin, president of the library board of trustees, says he understands the dire circumstances surrounding the town budget, but he thinks the current plan places too great a burden on the library. "We want the pain to be equitable," he says. "We are being asked to shoulder 25 percent of the total cuts even though we make up 5 percent of the budget."

Kulwin says that while the Christie cuts to libraries are part of the picture, they're not the main part since practically all of the Montclair library's budget comes from local property taxes.

As for the suggestion that the Bellevue branch be closed to save money, he points out that it is heavily used. Even though it has only accounted for 8 percent of the library's budget in the past, it has accounted for 11 percent of circulation.

Moreover, it's not clear how easy it would be to close the Bellevue branch, which was funded with a $40,000 Carnegie grant in 1913. Law students at Rutgers are currently studying the question.

Posted by tumulty at April 30, 2010 6:44 AM

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