Assembly bill would slash funding to libraries

Assembly bill would slash funding to libraries

LONG BRANCH — The Long Branch 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).

Long Branch Public Library Executive Director Ingrid Bruck sees this law as detrimental to the library.

"If this law ever passed it would be disastrous for libraries across the state," Bruck said. "People need us now more than ever. It would hit municipal libraries first, but county libraries would be affected as well."

The current state funding formula mandates that each town spend at least "onethird of a mill" on their municipal library. A mill is equal to one-thousandth of the town's total assessed property value. While towns are able to go over one-third of a mill to fund their libraries, one-third of a mill is the bare minimum.

The proposed bill would drop the minimum to one-sixth of a mill.

In addition to the main branch on Broadway, Long Branch Public Library has an Elberon Branch.

The library currently has a $1,602,958 budget, according to Ronald Mehlhorn Sr., Long Branch finance director.

"We offer a variety of quality-oflife services, such as tutoring services, English classes, and wireless Internet," Bruck said. "People come in to use the Internet because they can't afford to keep the Internet at their homes."

And as the economy has soured in recent months, the role of the library has increased within the community.

"We've seen a 20 percent increase in library traffic since the recession started," Bruck said.

The New Jersey Library Association argues that if the proposed bill were adopted into law, it "would lead to large-scale 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 from the Library Association.

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

"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 municipalities like Long Branch, 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.

"This would really be a burden for municipal libraries," Bruck said. "We have three floors of services, and we can't possibly operate three floors if they pass this bill."

Long Branch Public Library and the Elberon branch are not part of the Monmouth County Library System.