Reluctant council sets library vote in motion
Officials will decide if referendum will be held to close library
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

Though officials have yet to close the book on the Jamesburg Public Library, they took the first step toward holding a referendum that would ask residents whether it should be shut down.

"I, for one, am not optimistic that we'll get the waiver in the end," Councilman Otto Kostbar said. "I think we do have to be ready for a worst-case scenario with this."

A state-imposed 4-percent cap on municipal spending increases slated to take effect next year will force borough officials to make cuts in the budget. With the support of state Assembly members Linda Greenstein (D-14) and Bill Baroni (R-14), the mayor and council have been hoping the state will grant a waiver to the town that would place the library outside of the spending cap.

Though a bipartisan bill that would have exempted municipal public libraries from the cap was not passed by New Jersey lawmakers, Greenstein expressed confidence at the end of last month that Gov. Jon Corzine and his administration were working toward a solution for Jamesburg.

"We've called the governor's office and had no response," Councilman John Longo said.

Adding to the town's dilemma is the state mandate that says the library must be paid one-third of a mill, or one-third of a tenth of a cent, per $100 of assessed value on real estate in the town. Value on homes in town has increased steadily over the past decade, causing the amount paid to the library to go up by about 15 percent each year.

Armed with no clear-cut answers as to the outcome of the budgetary conundrum and faced with a deadline, the council agreed to introduce the ordinance for the referendum as a tentative measure at its July 11 meeting. It is scheduled to vote on adopting the ordinance on Aug. 8.

"A vote here of 'yes' tonight does not necessarily mean a vote of 'yes' in August," Longo said.

The deadline for the council to approve a question for the general election ballot in November is Aug. 24, according to Borough Clerk Gretchen McCarthy. With only one more meeting before that time, it was necessary for the ordinance to at least be introduced so it could possibly be adopted by then.

Mayor Anthony LaMantia suggested tabling the ordinance while waiting for word to come from Corzine. Councilwoman Barbara Carpenter agreed.

"I think we should just wait to see this outcome," Carpenter said.

The remainder of the council voted to introduce the ordinance, if only to fall back on if left with no other option. Councilman Brian Grimes said to back off and not go forward with introducing the ordinance would send a message to the state that the town was not serious about dealing with the issue. Longo agreed, saying the move could help to apply more pressure on state legislators.

"How do you limit a budget at four percent, and mandate a bill that makes you go over that four percent," Councilman Joseph Jennings asked. "We have to continue to push, and push hard."

LaMantia, along with several council members, stressed the importance of continuing to apply pressure on state officials to help with the situation. Both Kostbar and Longo asked members of the library Board of Trustees who were in attendance to help with those efforts. The community was also called upon to continue rallying for an answer.

"If they see the whole community is behind the council, it really sets a tone," Councilman Tom Bodall said.

Petitions circulated by residents in an effort to save the library have garnered 325 signatures so far, according to a resident.

Greenstein said libraries in 244 other New Jersey municipalities are facing similar issues. Borough Attorney Frederick Raffetto said he would reach out to attorneys in some of those towns to discuss the issue.

In order to get a waiver that would put the library outside of the spending cap, the town would have to make an application to the Local Finance Board with the state Department of Community Affairs, Raffetto said. Whether it would be a one-time or ongoing exemption remains unclear.

Even if a waiver was granted, Kostbar said, the mandated yearly expenditure for the library would not be resolved.

"These are converging lines," Kostbar said. "We've got a cap, and we've got a mandated increase. They're going to collide."

Grimes also was not satisfied with the possibility of obtaining a waiver. He asked LaMantia what the plan would be if it did not come through.

"I think before we go forward, we need to be concrete about what we're going to cut," Grimes said. "If we're going to go forward with a plan B, I want to make sure that plan B works."

With several aspects of the budget still uncertain, LaMantia did not offer a definitive answer.

"Nothing in the budget would be exempt from possible cuts," LaMantia said. "We'll have to deal with that when the time comes, if it comes to that."

Borough officials identified five areas where cuts could be made, including the police department, public works, garbage pickup, recreation and the library.

"Trying to figure out what our budget is going to be for next year is just impossible," Kostbar said.

Kostbar told the Sentinel things like costs of fuel and the escalating costs of medical insurance are factors in the budget that make it difficult to discern what is needed until the time comes. Medical benefits used to be exempt from spending caps, but that is no longer the case. Some years, he said, the cost of benefits have gone up by 30 percent.

"[We're] being squeezed in all directions," Kostbar said.

Adding to the squeeze is the fact that the town's garbage pick-up contract is coming up at the council's next meeting, Aug. 8. Kostbar said garbage pick-up comprises about $260,000 in the town's annual budget.

Some options being considered to cut those costs are decreasing summer pick-up to once a week instead of twice, or decreasing year-round pick-up to every other week. More drastically, another option is to make a switch to a private company for trash pick-up. The last option is the least attractive, Kostbar said, because if some residents fail to keep up with their bill, the company would not pick up their garbage, and it would simply stack up.

"I don't want to do any of these things," Kostbar said.

In the area of the police department, talk has been circulating about not hiring a new officer when Police Chief Paul Karkoska retires Aug. 17. Officials made a decision not to hire any new officers at least until the end of this year. Carpenter said the matter will be discussed at the next police committee meeting Aug. 8.

"Our quality of life in Jamesburg is fine right now," Kostbar said. "Not being able to hire another officer will hurt our public safety in town."

Beyond the inability to hire another officer to fill the vacancy left by the chief's retirement, Kostbar said the budgetary constraints may eventually force the department to be cut even further.

Grimes told the Sentinel he thinks cuts in the police department would only result in increased costs in areas like over-time.

"I'm not too keen on that plan," Grimes said. "It's frustrating, it really is."

Regarding the referendum, two questions were originally slated to be posed to the public. The first would ask residents if the library should be closed, and the second would have asked whether residents would like the town to have an association library, which is run by fund raising and discretionary council funding.

Raffetto recommended that the council eliminate the second question, as he said they did not have the authority to pose it. According to Raffetto, statutory law states that municipalities can put a non-binding question on the ballot in order to gauge the sentiments of the public. In this case, however, the question cannot be posed because the institution of an association library would not be in the council's control, Raffetto said.

The library board would make the final decision on whether to start an association library.

"I think [state legislators] will come through and help Jamesburg," Grimes said. "I have faith that something eventually will be done, but I don't know if the time frame before us is feasible."