New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law a 4% cap on property taxes earlier this year, but now two state legislators are appealing to him to modify it to save the Jamesburg Public Library—and possibly other small libraries in the state—from closing.
State Assembly members Linda Greenstein (D-Monroe) and Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton) asked residents at a June 27 public conference to appeal to the governor to grant a one-year exemption that would move the library’s budget outside of the tax cap that goes into effect next year. The new law moved library spending under the cap for the first time in 25 years, according to the June 29 Cranbury Press.
Mayor Anthony LaMantia explained that the borough is also mandated by state law to give the library a certain percentage of equalized land value each year, an amount that increased more than 15% in 2007. “Simply we cannot raise enough money to keep the library open under state law without severely cutting other programs throughout town,” he said in the June 5 New Brunswick Home News and Tribune. LaMantia said that an exemption would give the borough time to continue fighting to move library spending outside the cap permanently, an issue that could be taken up when the legislature reconvenes in November.
“We just need to show [the Governor’s office] how important it is for them to do this right now,” Baroni said at the conference. “It’s very important that we make sure this library is open for another generation of folks here in Jamesburg.” Greenstein added, “I’m not sure that when we did the cap law anybody really recognized it was a problem to have libraries in there.”
Posted July 6, 2007.