TF Library Could have Funds Slashed

T.F. library could have funds slashed
BY KENNETH WALTER Staff Writer
The Tinton Falls Public Library is one of many municipal libraries statewide that may lose as much as half of their municipal funding if a proposed bill becomes law.

Assembly bill A-3753 was introduced on Feb. 9 by Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-32nd District).

With a recession looming, Tinton Falls Library Director Rosemary Tunnicliffe sees the library as a resource that people need now more than ever.

"We have more people coming in since the economy went bad," Tunnicliffe said. "We have more people using the Internet here than ever before."

The current state funding formula mandates that each town spend at least "onethird of a mil" on their municipal library.

A mil is equal to one-thousandth of the town's total assessed property value. While towns are able to go over one-third of a mil to fund their libraries, one-third of a mil is the bare minimum. The proposed bill would drop the minimum to one-sixth of a mil.

The Tinton Falls library currently receives $125,000 a year in municipal funding, but Tunnicliffe is unsure about the future.

"The borough approved our budget for 2009; we don't know what will happen for 2010," Tunnicliffe said.

The New Jersey Library Association argues that if the proposed bill were adopted into law, it "would lead to largescale cutbacks in library services in … communities at a time when library usage is growing and is needed more than ever," according to a press release issued by the New Jersey Library Association.

The release states that libraries that do not suffer funding cuts may have to make up for services lost at other libraries that have their funding cut.

"Libraries funded above the minimum funding level would see their own services stretched as New Jersey residents seek out neighboring libraries to provide needed services which their local libraries could no longer offer," the release states.

While the proposed bill would cut library funding in towns like Tinton Falls, NJLA Executive Director Pat Tumulty does not see it moving forward anytime soon.

"At this point, [Prieto] is talking to us, and we don't perceive [the bill] going forward in the immediate future," Tumulty said.

State officials passed a law in 2007 that required municipalities to fund their libraries based on their municipal tax levy cap, Tumulty said.

"The cap law was passed in 2007, and that is why there has been so much confusion about this, because under previous cap laws, [libraries] were exempted, but under this law, [libraries] are added, and that's what makes it very difficult," Tumulty said.

"Our feeling is [libraries] should be exempt from the levy or given their own tax," she added.

Tunnicliffe also expressed the need for a new library in Tinton Falls, especially with the increased popularity of the branch in recent months.

"The Tinton Falls library has been around for 48 years, and we've been in this building for over 30 years," Tunnicliffe said. "We are celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2011, and we hoped that we would have a new building by then, but it doesn't look like we will."

Contact Ken Walter at kwalter@gmnews.com.