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New Jersey Bill Would Let Towns Reduce Library FundingA bill proposed in the New Jersey Assembly would allow municipalities to reduce the amount of money they are required to give their libraries. The state currently requires municipalities to fund libraries at one-third of a mil of the assessed value of the towns’ properties, which amounts to about $33 on a home assessed at $100,000. The proposal would let library boards reduce that amount if the state formula exceeds the library’s operating budget. Under the current funding formula, Washington Township must give $1.6 million this year to its library, which has an operating budget of only about $800,000, the Cherry Hill Courier-Post reported July 10. Mayor Paul Moriarty and the library board agreed June 25 to transfer $400,000 from the library’s surplus to the township; the amount matched the state-mandated quarterly payment due to the library the following day. “According to our laws, this can’t be done,” Deputy State Librarian Victoria Rosch told the Courier-Post. “We are very hesitant about this proposal because it would change the way libraries have been funded since the 19th century.” Moriarty, who is also a member of the Assembly, is one of the bill’s four sponsors. “I don’t understand how we can have a statute that forces a municipality to appropriate more money to a department than is necessary to operate that department,” he said in the July 4 Gloucester County Times. “That doesn’t seem to be good government to me.” Patricia Tumulty, director of the New Jersey Library Association, pointed out that Washington Township has been keeping the excess funds in reserve. “One of the reasons they haven’t been spending the money is that they have a woefully inadequate building,” she told American Libraries. The Times noted that, based on the township’s population of 47,000, state estimates say the 10,000-square-foot facility should be around 28,000 square feet. Tumulty added that the township’s per-capita library support of $23.23 ranks it far below the state average of $45.70. Tumulty said NJLA cannot take a position on the bill until it’s formally introduced and the language is available; the legislature is not anticipated to go back into session until after the November elections. However, she said the group “would certainly oppose anything that weakens library funding in the state.” Posted July 13, 2007. |
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