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April 7, 2011

Save the library

http://www.northjersey.com
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Editorial: The Record
ELECTED OFFICIALS in the borough of Northvale decided recently that they couldn't find money in the budget to keep the public library open. Since Northvale's is an independent library and not a municipal one, the mayor and council are not compelled to fund it. So they opted not to.

We believed this to be a terrible mistake, and a short-sighted approach to municipal management. The borough leaders said, in essence, that they wished they could make the financial contribution, but if there's no money, there's no money. We understood the quandary, but were disappointed in the lack of resourcefulness and budgetary imagination.

Town officials have since put a new proposal on the table that, while not ideal, is a good middle ground: a voter referendum to exceed the 2 percent cap on the tax levy.

At tonight's meeting at Borough Hall, the mayor and council are slated to discuss the referendum's wording, as well as the amount to be voted on, Staff Writer Denisa R. Superville reports. They will also introduce the municipal budget.

We urge residents to attend and to keep up with the deliberations. If the referendum goes to voters, it will appear on the same ballot as the school board candidates during the April 27 school board elections.

Officials are considering asking voters to approve $500,000. For a house assessed at the borough average of approximately $385,000, that would add $228.27 to the municipal tax bill. The half-million dollars is not just for the library, but also to provide a financial cushion for the borough. Right now, there is hardly anything extra in the coffers in case of an emergency.

Nearly every family is struggling to live within its own tight budget these days. Many things that were once necessities are now luxuries. We understand that an extra couple hundred dollars on the tax bill is hardly welcome. But the amount breaks down to $4.39 a week. For both the library and an emergency surplus. That seems quite reasonable.

Borough librarians were taken by surprise, they say, when several weeks ago they were told the lending library would get no money this year. Northvale residents have been able to borrow books — and, later, magazines and videos — since 1957. If the library closes, borrowers will be locked out of the 38,000 items housed in the building, as well as the 10 million items available to them through the Bergen County Cooperative Library System, which runs a crackerjack inter-library loan program.

In order for Northvale Public Library to keep its BCCLS membership, the town is required by the cooperative library system to fund the local library at a certain rate. Last year, it came out to $337,000, but the town got back $87,000 in rent and other expenses. This year the library needs about $336,000, but could pay back the town again and run on $250,000. It is the second-lowest funding amount among the 75 member libraries. Yet Northvale patrons are avid borrowers, making their library card the ninth-most-highly used.

The worst-case scenario would be that the Northvale library closed. Library patrons could buy a membership at surrounding libraries, but they would not be able to participate in inter-library loans, and they would pay from at least $100 to $400 a year.

The answer is clear. For little more than a large caffe latte a week, the public library — an unsung hero of a thriving democracy — stays open. Hold the referendum and keep the Northvale Public Library alive.

Posted by tumulty at April 7, 2011 8:34 AM

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