That's right, the Township want to charge the library market rate rental fees to occupy the building that house the system.
The Township is planning on charging the Library a total of $119K a year in rental fees for the Main library and its satellite branches in Port Monmouth and Lincroft.
The Township is also planning on the Library to paid off the debt that the Township incurred for the construction of the main Library on New Monmouth rd., which would be an additional $542K a year in principal and interest charges taken from the coffers of the Library.
Here is a PDF file that show's the charges that the Township Committee wishes to impose on the Middletown Library
I think it is safe to say that if these fees are imposed on the library, the library as we know it will no longer exist. The quality service and experiences that make Middletown's library so special to the tens of thousands of residents that use it every year will be lost.
If the Township is successful in imposing property rental fees for the buildings that the library occupies than a new precedence will have been established for Township own buildings.
In that case than, rental fees should be charged against the Middletown Arts Center instead of leasing the property to the Arts Council for $1 a year, and to all groups or departments that use township property or buildings.
4 comments:
Have these five TC members really lost their minds?????????
There are laws that govern our libraries but of course the law NEVER MEANT ANYTHING to these empty headed A$$es.
Mike -
You couldn't be more wrong.
It's actually "safe to say" that the Library will be fine if it uses its surplus to pay for things the town can no longer afford to "let slide."
"Surplus" means that these are funds available AFTER the Library budget is accounted for, so how can you say that the Library will change at all?
Clearly the proposed layoff plan will only be used as a last resort if additional funds don't come from somewhere. Why not the Library surplus? Who does that money belong to?
That's right - the taxpayer. The same taxpayer who will see less Police on the streets while Library staff sit on a surplus while they spend outrageously.
Why have you decided that overspending and higher taxes are good all of a sudden?
Anon 12:52,
No I am not wrong. If the Library is expected to pay out close to $700K a year in debt service and rental fees very year to the township there will be no money available for anything else that the library does.
Does the Library run a surplus of $1.2M every year? I don't think so. So when the surplus is gone, where does the money come from to pay for rent and debt service? From the Library's operation budget, that's where.
Charging rental fees is silly because that is an ongoing expense. This shouldn't be imposed.
Asking the library to use some of its own surplus and/or budget to help the town payoff of the debt that it took to build it is a very logical and sensible idea ... and is MORE THAN FAIR ... and can be done with no impact to the services they provide. I would much more prefer this, because it is consistent with library operation, than to taking the surplus to keep some extra police positions.
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