According to an email I received, sent out by Middletown Library treasurer Sherry Miloscia ealier today to friends, asking them to forward it along to other friends and supporters of the Middletown Library system, the Middletown Township Committee has issued an ultimatum to the Library’s Board of Trustees; Give us your money or else!
The Township Committee is looking for funds to plug a huge gap in this year’s budget and it seems that one possible way to fill in this gap is to use extortion as a weapon against the Middletown Library.
Middletown’s newest Committeeman, Kevin Settembrino, had himself appointed as the Township’s representative on the Library’s Board of Trustees. During his first official meeting as member of the Board of Trustees in January, Settembrino made it known that he was after $2.3 million of library funds which would be used to offset the current Township budget.
According to the email posted below, Settembrino made it very clear that either the Board of Trustees hand over the funds to the Township or suffer the consequences; the replacement of current board members when their terms expire with those more friendly to the Township Committee and/or turning over the Middletown library system to the County for inclusion into its system.
I was wondering how long it was going to take before this leaked out I had heard a number of weeks ago that the “sinister” Mr. Settembrino, had an unofficial meeting with library trustees shortly after being elected to the Township Committee last November. Settembrino took the opportunity to introduce himself as the new Township representative to the Board of Trustees and let it be known that he would be looking into ways on how to seize Library’s funds for Township use.
This was a campaign issue that Mr. Settembrino mentioned at the LVGA Meet the Candidates night back in October, so calling the mayor as Sherry Miloscia mentioned at the end of her email, will not help much. Mayor Fiore and the rest of the Township Committee are the ones that appointed Mr. Settembrino to the Library Board in the first place.
So if you are interested in expressing your views over this issue, I suggest you attend the Library’s Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday night in the Community Room of the Main Library on New Monmouth Rd.
From: Sherry Miloscia
Subject: Library Meeting
Date: Friday, February 11, 2011, 1:07 PM
Hi All,
If you can make it, I'd like to invite all of you to the Middletown Township Library Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday, February 16 at 7:00 pm in the Community Room. The meeting is open to the public and you will also have an opportunity to speak, if you wish.
The township committee is trying to decrease their own shortfall by having the library give back part of our budget (illegal to ask for), pay rent (also illegal) or they will start the process to make us part of the county library. If that happens, the branches will close and other towns who are part of the county library system but not that close to the Shrewsbury branch of the county library will come to Middletown instead. Parking is already difficult today, but will be near impossible if that happens. Or, they can choose to close the Middletown Library completely and then you will only have the option to go to Shrewsbury or to any of the member towns that have a library. You will still have to pay for the library as part of the taxes; it will just move from your municipal to your county taxes. They also threatened to not reappoint the trustees and replace us with people who are more sympathetic to what they are asking for.
The person representing the township committee is Kevin Settembrino. He replaced a valuable member of our Board in January, presented his demands at the January meeting, and is expecting an answer at the February meeting. We will have our attorney there to explain our position, but it would also be helpful to have library supporters at the meeting, as well. Mr. Settembrino does not have a library card. He does not have children who use the library and has not attended any programs.
If the Library Board gives Mr. Settembrino everything he asks for, we won't be able to operate the library anymore. He's asking for 2.3 million dollars a year, which is more than 50% of our budget. If we agreed to that, we would have to close the doors of the library.
Please forward this to anyone who you think would be impacted by this. If you can't attend the meeting, you can also call Mayor Anthony Fiore at 732-615-2024 or email him at mayorsoffice@middletownnj.org.
Thanks,
Sherry
18 comments:
The incompetent gang of hacks running this town into the ground are beneath contempt. I guess these are the "creative solutions" we were promised by the slick All Republican Township Committee. First, the diversion of funds from public schools and now the destruction of the local library. What next, midnight raids on the kids piggie banks?
This Settembrino character also lied about the increase in the local portion of the property tax bills at the LVGA meeting prior to the election....said anyone who claimed taxes were increasin in this town "wasn't qualified to serve". Guess HE"S NOT QUALIFIED TO SERVE !!
Middletown is and has been governed in these last years by incompetent political hacks that lie and cheat,just as poster 12:28 a.m. stated.
Mode of operande is destroy our school system, destroy our library system,destroy our quality of life and cater to the inept political republican party trash.
None of them know or demonstrate any ability to budget money. The five of them and their cronies are a disgrace !!
Need to get rid of something....how about the Sewage Authority ( all the past TC members that serve with their snouts in the trough) and the Arts Center (Rosemarie's Mistake ) and privatize the Swim Club ? Combine Parks and Recreation with Public Works.
WHAT does it take to have the residents in Middletown finally wake up..... this gang of slick TC members are trying to destroy the quality of life in this town and with it the value of what you own !!
I'm a life long Republican and this is exactly why I didn't vote for the 2 Republican candidates.
These geniuses are going to destroy this town, and there's no one to stop them until the people in this town wake up.
All they want is power and control.
The Middletown library system is one of the few great things about this town.
Do something about the Art Center and stop robbing Peter to pay Paul.
It seems the public library is part of what Mr. Settenbrino sees as "non-essential" services. That may be true in a world where one's prospects for the future are guaranteed through inherited money and/or cronyism, but for most of us, particularly the children in the township, access to the library is an essential tool for future success. This plan doesn't sound like governance- it's more like a schoolyard shakedown by a bully after he's spent his own money.
Elections have consequences and the people of Middletown deserve what they get. They voted for a 5-0 township committee. Why should anyone be surprised that the committee will use these tactics.
There's no one to stop them.
The budget mess has only gotten worse and Sentembrino promised no higher taxes.
The people of Middletown will again see the danger of single party rule. But do they ever learn?
Steal from our schools and now our library. What's next people?
We're in a big hole and the TC is desperate to dig out of it.
Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.
You reap what you sow.
Send this bunch of hacks back north from whence they come.......two are
incompetent boobs who need a good swift boot in the A$$ and the other three know better and demonstrate no talent whatsoever for governing !!!
Kick their A$$ES also !!
Slick and slippery on all fronts.
Hold onto your hats people, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Settembrino has higher aspirations and Fiore is up for re election.
Will the residents remember in November?
The Republicans will again bring out the vote and count on the ignorance of the voting public.
You people are clueless. When Sean Byrnes made the proposals to merge the library and the Arts Center, you praised him. When Settembrino asks the library to give a portion of their surplus (yes surplus for the factually challenged) he's a villan. No wonder the Republicans in Middletown keep winning year after year.
The Library costs almost $4 Million per year, hires and gives raises to its employees during the recession and pays for first class airfare and meals for its leaders to attend conferences all around the country. And when the representatives of the town ask them to rein in that spending and apply some of that guaranteed by state law money back to the taxpayers to mitigate property taxes, the Library board is held up as a set of heroes?
Here on THIS blog?
The same one that continues to call for lower property taxes?
Have the bloggers here changed their position on taxes?
By the way, I missed where someone "stole money from the schools." Given the tax appeals the town has paid back for the school for the last few years, how can anybody credibly make THAT claim?
Anon 7:54
There is a big difference here.
Sean Byrnes suggested the Libray take over the Arts Center due to the overlaping of similar services provided by both institutions.
Byrnes was looking to save approx.$300K. He never asked for half of their operating budget,threatened to turnover operatings to the County or replace it's Board of Trusteess with those more favorable to the Township Committee.
Mike -
Doesn't it get you mad thay they are holding on to $2.3 million in surplus when last year taxes increased by as much as they did?
Imagine what you'd have said if the town had a surplus like that?
And it's the Committee that names the Board members, so why shouldn't they name members who will only spend what is necessary and give back the balance to the taxpayers?
I might be tempted to think that there was some partisanship going on here...
Jay,
Why do you suggest they have a surplus of $2.3M, who says there is that much money laying around?
My family and I go to the Middletown Library very often and think it is a first rate facility. I also often visit the Port Monmouth extension site on Main St.
From what I can see, my tax dollars are well spent. Much better spent than the dollars that the Township Committee wastes every year.
Do I think it is a good idea for the TC and the Library to partner up on the Arts Center? Yes I do. I think the Library would be albe to operate the Arts Center efficently and effectively.
Mike -
Where did you get the information that this $2.3 million was from their operating budget? Their budget (and surplus) are public records.
With the taxpayer dollars guaranteed by law that pay for the library, no one is denying it offers great facilities and great services - they should. But wanting to have them give their surplus back to alleviate taxes, or to spend only what is necessary in order to keep taxes down isn't a bad thing - is it?
Jay,
Middletown Library treasurer Sherry Miloscia stated in her email (which was posted below my comments) that the $2.3M demanded from the Library was MORE than half it's operating budget.
If you have other information that states otherwise send me the link or email me the documents.
Keep in mind Jay that asking for and demanding that the Library give back their surpluses are two different things and both are illegal under the current law.
This TC has repeatedly skirted the letter of the law in recent years.
Remember the fiasco involving the County ordered revaluation?
Remember the tax assessor took the rap for that nonsense and does anyone think he acted alone ??
Remember the nonsense engaged in by the TC committee members during the BOE election last year and see what problems we now have ?
Remember the turf field fiasco and the lack of integrity surrounding that proposal ? Sharfey needed something to make him look good for re-election and he doesn't understand current financial conditions in this town,state or country ! Did not care about those struggling to save their homes.etc. and gave us a 13.87 percent municipal tax increase and tried to sell it with lies.
How about trampling on the rights of the people on the Swimming River Road corridor during the pipe installations and Sharfey's survey and ten mile detour out to Colts Neck to get your kids to school,go to the drugstore or the Acme or doctor ,etc. ?? Done to please his lying political supporter.
This is not democratic government, it's gestapo tactics. Don't like that connotation, then this TC must change the way it operates.
This TC is supposed to represent ALL of the residents of this township and they fail miserably at that task because they are only representing the "party faithful" and they do not represent the thousands of the rest of the people here....including the republicans who DO NOT agree with them.
LIBRARIES are essential services,especially in times like this economy.
Settebrino should learn something about good government before he wags his tongue. He distorts what is the truth to suit his needs....a Scharfy clone??
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