2-4-13 Middletown Township Committee Meeting: Library Facts

Prior to Monday night's monthly workshop meeting of the Middletown Township Committee, the township released a statement addressing what it called the "misinformation being spread about the issues of the Library System in MiddletownTownship". 

This prepared statement was issued Monday afternoon after regular business hours and contained many inaccuracies, red herrings, and innuendo, that tried to pin the current library funding crisis and the pending closure of the of the three library satellite branches (Bayshore, Lincroft and Navesink) on the mismanagement of Library Director and the members of the former Library Board.

Over 30 library supports jammed the meeting to express their concerns and voiced their opposition to the closings during the Public Comments portion of the meeting. The Committee's  response to these people was to say that they had no control over the Library budget and that the residents should speak to the Library Board. Of course, no one on the Committee would admit or mention that the current library crisis was brought about because the township raped the library of nearly $1 million of reserved and surplus funds over the past few years and expanded the number of people that act as trustees on the library board in order to, essentially gain control over the library's budget. 

Our acting mayor Gerry Scharfenberger and former acting mayor Tony Fiore did a good job of playing dumb during the questioning and pleading of those expressing their support of the library, insisting that the Township Committee has nothing to do with the library and that there is nothing that they could do. The meeting became somewhat contentious at times.

This week's issue of the Independent has a story, "Library closings continue to cause controversy; Residents, Twp. Committee debate future of three library branches" that is a very good companion  to the video below. I suggest that everyone read this article and watch the video to get a full understanding of what transpired. 

As always, you can download a copy of the meeting agenda that contains the discussion items and the proposed resolutions and ordinances that were voted on or presented during the meeting. A box around an item is a link, bringing you further into the document to that resolution or ordinance. At the end of the resolution there will be a link bringing you back to the agenda. Attached to this agenda is also the monthly bill list, so that everyone can see how the Township is spending our tax dollars

Here is the text of the Township's statement concerning the Library:

MIDDLETOWN, NJ - Given the amount of misinformation being spread about the issues of the Library System in Middletown Township, it is important to all residents that the Township address some facts regarding this matter:

1. In New Jersey, Free Public Libraries are funded via the following formula established by State Law.: The total equalized assessed value of all properties in the municipality times .000333333.Thus, library funding increases as values go up and they decrease when values decline as they have been in recent years. For 2013, for example, the Municipal allocation for the Middletown Library is over $3.4 million. This amount has been decreasing in recent years as property values decline.
2. NJ library law gives the Library Board responsibility for the use of funds available for library purposes (Municipal: N.J.S.A. 40:54-12).Middletown Township’s governing body, the Township Committee, has no role or power regarding the way such funds are spent.
3. An issue has been raised to what have been referred to as “chargebacks.” These costs are actually the Library’s allocable share of its obligations. Library employees are covered by the Townships various insurance plans and the states pension system at great benefit to the Library whose cost would be much greater than if it had to obtain and pay for these directly. Therefore the payments associated with these are driven by the number and cost of covered employees of the library. The Library Board is to use funds from its statutory allocation for the Library’s portion of these costs. Since the Library receives its funds via a dedicated tax borne by the taxpayers for the purpose of funding all of their obligations, such costs should not be an added duplicate burden on the municipal budget and the taxpayers.
4. In previous years, the amount paid by the Library to cover these aforementioned costs were substantially lower than the actual costs, so in fact, the Library was paying far less than it should have for many years.
5. In order to explain the process for establishing the Library’s share of costs, a meeting was held between the Library Board’s President and Township Staff. The entire analysis was discussed. A subsequent meeting was held in December with the Library Board’s entire Finance Committee. The Township presented its analysis and some discussion ensued at which time it was agreed by the township to lower the costs by about $50,000.00. These reduced amounts had to do with services provided by the Township to the Library and were not associated with insurance or pension costs.
6. The Township has always absorbed certain additional costs associated with the Library. In fact, in 2002, the Main Library underwent an extensive remodel and expansion project. This cost was in excess of $8.5 million and the Township continues to pay the full costs of the debt service associated with this project which are approximately $650,000.00 per year. Also in 2002, the Township allocated $45,000.00 from municipal funds for work at the Bayshore Library Branch.
7. The Township anticipates including plans in its 2013 Capital Budget for a parking lot expansion at the Main Branch. This cost will also be borne out of the Township’s budget and not the Library’s.

There is no question that a funding mechanism based upon assessed property values was going to be challenging for the near future with home values decreasing. Now with the impacts of Superstorm Sandy, that challenge will last longer and have an even greater impact on both Library and Municipal budgets. The Executive Director and former Library board which gave 6% raises and continued its overstaffing and excessive overtime apparently did not plan for or anticipate the obvious future. Hopefully the new Library Board will take these matters into consideration and address them to continue Middletown’s terrific library system.