Jamesburg residents to decide library's fate
Borough officials expect to hold referendum in fall
BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer
Voters will likely decide this fall whether to keep Jamesburg's public library open or save money by using Monroe's facility.

Mayor Anthony LaMantia said residents would get a "bigger and better" service in the Monroe Township Library, located in the township's municipal complex off Perrineville Road, if they approve a November referendum to close the library. The proposed switch is Jamesburg officials' solution to a budgetary squeeze that has arisen in recent years, as a state formula requires the town to increase library funding by as much as 15 percent each year, while overall borough spending increases must be kept under a 4 percent cap.

This year, Jamesburg's library will cost the borough about $185,000, up from $170,000 the prior year, according to Borough Business Administrator Denise Jawidzik. It is estimated that the library would cost about $213,000 next year, she said.

However, using the Monroe library would cost considerably less, Jawidzik said, though the exact cost would depend on the number of cardholders. Through an interlocal agreement that has been discussed, the borough would pay a fee to Monroe each year based on the number of Jamesburg residents holding library cards. The Jamesburg library currently has about 1,100 cardholders. If the same number obtains cards at the Monroe library, the cost to Jamesburg would be about $115,000 for next year, Jawidzik said.

Some 2,000 Jamesburg residents would have to become cardholders in Monroe before the cost to use that library becomes equal to Jamesburg's current library costs.

Borough officials and others seeking to close the library will face a battle, according to Carole Hetzell, president of the Jamesburg Library Board of Trustees. She said library supporters will mount a campaign to keep the library open.

"I'm chagrined, to say the least, that they feel a good way to save money is by closing the only thing in town that is free and open to everyone," Hetzell said.

Due to state law, neither the mayor nor the Borough Council is permitted to make the decision to close the borough's library. Only voters can approve the action, via referendum.

The move to close the library stems from a state-mandated library funding formula that dates back more than a century. The law holds that the town must give its library one third of a mill (a mill is one-tenth of a cent) per $100 of assessed value in the municipality. Due to the rising value of properties over the past decade, that formula has forced Jamesburg to increase its library expenditures by about 15 percent some years. The increase amounted to 8.9 percent last year.

Hetzell said the library was willing to take less money last year, but the law prohibited them from doing so. Discussions to find a permissible agreement that would allow the library to return money to the town never materialized, she said.

For LaMantia and the council members, the inability to cut library costs, and the mandate to increase them, has been a major point of frustration.

"It should be part of the normal operating budget," LaMantia said of the library, meaning the council should be able to hold the line or decrease spending for the operation, just as it does for other borough departments. He added that he and the council have had to increase library spending while cutting expenses in other departments in order to meet the budget cap.

LaMantia said the switch to Monroe would save money and would consolidate services, something that the state has been pressuring small towns to do.

Hetzell questioned why the borough doesn't look at other areas, such as consolidating police services with another town. When it comes to budget cuts, she questioned whether "such a tiny town" needed as many police officers as it has, or public works employees.

Moreover, she said losing the library would be a huge loss in town, not only because the facility offers many of the same services afforded in Monroe, but because it is a place that seniors and children can walk to, and a place where parents can know their kids are safe after school.

"People are very unhappy about this. We're a small library, and people love the intimacy of it, the old town feeling," Hetzell said. "The biggest thing is that we're within walking distance. With the economy in a crumby state, more people are walking."

The mayor reassured residents who walk to the Jamesburg Public Library, located on Gatzmer Avenue, that they would not have a hard time getting to the one in Monroe. He said Middlesex County is willing to set up walkways in Thompson Park to allow for easy access to the Monroe library. In addition, the borough could make use of the county's Area Wide Transportation System to get to and from Monroe.

Hetzell noted that a lot of people, including herself, don't live near Thompson Park and would have to walk up to a couple miles along a two-lane, winding road that has no shoulders, and at least for now, no sidewalks.

"I'm not sure I'd let my 11-year-old grandson walk through the park alone, not in this day and age," she said.

She also defended the Jamesburg library as having many of the same programs as Monroe's such as a book club and sewing group, and the same research tools.

LaMantia, while touting the much larger size of Monroe's facility, its additional programs and offerings, also noted that Monroe's library has a bookmobile that would be stationed in Jamesburg once a week.

"[Voters] can decide to keep this library open or use a state-of-the-art library [in Monroe]," LaMantia said.

The Borough Council is expected to confirm the referendum at an August meeting.

If there is one thing LaMantia and Hetzell agreed on, it's that the state has treated the town unfairly through its library and budgetary laws.

"It's hard for any small town to live up to the state mandates," LaMantia said. "Most of them are ridiculous."

"The state has us by the short hairs," Hetzell said. "They've interfered with the running of small towns."