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July 26, 2010

The free ($4.1 million) public library

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Thursday, July 22, 2010
Last updated: Thursday July 22, 2010, 1:16 AM
BY TERRENCE T. MCDONALD
The Montclair Times
OF THE MONTCLAIR TIMES
There was no love on display for the Bloomfield Public Library at last week's Montclair Township Council meeting.

During a discussion of municipal funding for the Montclair Free Public Library, 2nd Ward Councilman Cary Africk asked why Bloomfield's library can operate on $1.8 million annually, while Montclair's – which serves a smaller population – originally proposed a 2010 budget topping $4 million.
"What do we do different?" Africk said.

"I think I would ask you to visit our library … start with walking in the damn door," scoffed Councilwoman-at-Large Kathryn Weller-Demming, crocheting a purple baby blanket.
Mayor Jerry Fried concurred: "You cannot compare the Bloomfield library with the Montclair library."

Library funding has been a touchy subject for months, ever since Township Manager Marc D. Dashield recommended slashing the library's municipal allocation by $700,000, nearly 18 percent of its total 2009 budget.

The amount stunned library officials. Cliff Kulwin, president of the library's Board of Trustees, told the council in April that he was shocked and horrified by the proposed cut. During a later meeting, other members of the board urged the council to reconsider.
As a result of the library hubbub, The Times compared the budgets of libraries in five other municipalities – Hoboken, South Brunswick, Teaneck, Linden, and Bloomfield – to examine how Montclair's library stacks up with those in towns with similar populations.
Since there have been numerous iterations of this year's library budget – the one first proposed by library officials last year; a second anticipating a 10 percent cut in municipal funding; a third suggesting a $700,000 cut – The Times chose to use the $4,062,096 budget proposed by library officials at the end of last year.

The financial records reveal that Montclair's library tops the list in almost every category: total budget; municipal funding; salaries; spending on library materials; and the amount the average taxpayer pays annually for library services.

The Times requested the budgets, and financial statements for Montclair's library, through multiple Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests, as well as numerous phone calls and e-mails to library officials in Montclair and elsewhere.

The information compiled by The Times has Africk convinced that he does not have enough information to decide whether Montclair's library should have some of the proposed $700,000 cut restored, as some other council members have suggested.
"At some point you just have to say" – here Africk sighed dramatically – "we can't afford anymore," he said.

'more things to more people'
For library fans, the main branch of the library, located on South Fullerton Avenue, is more than just a building with books and DVDs to borrow.
The mayor, who has been pushing for the council to approve a less severe cut to library funding than the $700,000 originally proposed, ticked off a list of programs the library provides that it may not be able to if the dramatic cut is imposed.

These programs – including programs, after-school tutoring, free movies, dancing lessons for senior citizens –might be hosted by a community or senior center in another town, Fried said.
"In Montclair, the library has traditionally had a larger educational role than just a place where you can borrow books. I think that's what great libraries do all across the country," he said.
But great libraries come at a cost.

The original proposed budget for Montclair's library is larger than Linden's and Bloomfield's library budgets combined. Even with a 10 percent cut in municipal funding – suggested by library officials earlier this year – the library's budget would exceed the budgets of every one of the five libraries mentioned above.

Montclair's library also spends more on salaries – $2.5 million budgeted in 2010 – and library materials – $360,000 – than those five libraries, in addition to receiving more in municipal funding,
If the council follows through with the $700,000 cut to municipal funding, then Montclair's library would have the second-highest municipal allocation, behind Hoboken, of the five libraries.
Library officials do not deny that Montclair is generous with its library funding. But they said that Montclair residents demand their library be, in Kulwin's words, "more things to more people."

"Every community decides for itself what a library should be, and clearly in Montclair … the people want the library as kind of a community center and want to be able to take advantage of it," Kulwin told The Times.

'chosen by the people'
1/3 of a mill.
It's an arcane bit of lingo, recognizable only to library and municipal officials. According to a state law adopted in 1885, a municipality with a library is required to fund it with "1/3 of a mill;" in layman's terms, at least 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
In Montclair, whose tax base is $7.3 billion, "1/3 of a mill" equals $2,462,767 in 2010. But the proposed municipal allocation could reach $3,333,749, a 35 percent increase over the amount Montclair is required to provide.
Last year, the municipality provided the library with $3,783,749, a 53 percent increase from 2009's 1/3 of a mill minimum.

Of the six towns whose library financial records were requested by The Times, only Teaneck provides its library with significantly more funding than the state requires. South Brunswick, Linden, and Bloomfield will fund their libraries in 2010 with the exact state minimum. Hoboken appears to fund its library $2 less than the minimum.

In 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, 58 percent of New Jersey municipalities funded their libraries above the 1/3 of a mill minimum, according to the New Jersey State Library. County libraries are not funded using the formula.

Montclair library officials strenuously object to the notion that the library is overfunded.
Kulwin told The Times the 1/3 of a mill figure is merely "the minimum acceptable." It's ludicrous, he said, that a funding formula instituted in 1885 still applies today.
Kulwin said that urban areas tend to provide more than 1/3 of a mill to their libraries, while suburban areas tend to stick to the state-imposed minimum.
The extra funding for Montclair's library "reflects the reality of Montclair being a unique mix of urban and suburban," he said.

Three bills are pending in the state Legislature to revise the 125-year-old 1/3 of a mill formula. All are opposed by the New Jersey Library Association. Patricia Tumulty, its executive director, said libraries, created by local referendums that include the 1/3 of a mill language, should not have their funding formula changed by elected officials.
"We believe it has been something chosen by the people," Tumulty told The Times.
Mary Quirk, a Montclair senior citizen who said she usually visits the library two to three times per week, was leaving its main branch on Tuesday afternoon with "Empire State," a Henry Porter spy thriller she picked up for her son.

Quirk said she borrows about 20 books weekly, reading at least one an evening. She'd rather the council search for other ways to save money than cutting library funding, which would hurt readers young and old, she said.
"The price of books is atrocious," Quirk said. "Borrowing books is a wonderful way to read and learn."

Posted by tumulty at July 26, 2010 5:36 PM

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