Library will take hit with proposed budget
Hours of operation, staffing to be cut; user fees expected
BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer
The East Brunswick Township Council is considering a $350,000 cut to the library's budget this year, resulting in reduced hours and staff and program cutbacks.

Mayor David Stahl said an audit from 2007 showed the library had about $1 million in reserve, signaling to the council and administration that the library was in strong enough financial shape to withstand the cut. Stahl has been seeking to make a variety of cuts since taking over a revenue-starved township, but the library proposal did not come to light publicly until library officials issued a press release last week announcing that it would be scaling back its operations.

Elaine Lee Kessler, president of the library's board of trustees, said the proposed cut will reduce the library's annual budget to about $3 million, the same as in 2003. In turn, the facility will reduce its hours, staffing and services to 2003 levels, library officials said.

Residents will get hit more directly, Kessler said, by way of new fees. Library users will be charged for services such as reserving items, taking computer-training classes, and borrowing books that must be obtained from another library.

The library's press release indicates that staffing levels will be reduced through layoffs and by cutting staff hours, and Kessler said employees who retire will not be replaced.

Starting May 8, the library will close its doors at 5 p.m. on Fridays rather than 9 p.m. In addition, Sunday hours will be reduced from 1 to 5 p.m., rather than 1 to 9 p.m. The library will be closed on Sundays from June 21 to Sept. 6.

Library officials said it was not long ago that they were proud to increase their hours.

"East Brunswick residents have always enjoyed superior library services offered by our library and its staff, and it will be difficult for them to adjust to the cutbacks," Kessler said.

The cuts are particularly troublesome, Kessler said, because they come at a time when libraries are in great demand as a result of the economic crisis. Many people do job research or apply for unemployment using any of the library's 50-plus computers.

"We are an oasis in the economic storm," she said.

Kessler also said the proposed $350,000 cut is in addition to $169,000 in reductions made to the library's portion of the municipal budget in late 2008 and early 2009, according to library officials.

Kessler noted that the administration and Township Council have asked that all department heads make cuts to their budgets this year, but she believes the library is being hit harder. "Personally I feel the library, unfortunately, was cut more so, percentage-wise, than other departments," she said.

However, Kessler also said she trusts the decisions made by the mayor and council, and hopes the cut will be approved as it stands, rather than increased.

Stahl said the library is expected to present its budget during the council's next budget workshop May 4.

He said he was disconcerted upon reading the library's press release, and stressed that he felt the library could have done more with the $1 million in reserve funding, which is taxpayer money.

"When I proposed cutting the budget, I was mindful of the 2007 audit," he said, referring to the surplus funds. "To know the library had that much in reserves, I was proposing a cut based on the money they saved every year." Stahl also noted the state formula requiring municipalities to provide a certain amount of money to their libraries each year, and said East Brunswick has continually given the library more than that requirement.

Regarding the reduction in library hours, Stahl said that at this point, such benefits have to be scaled back to provide relief to taxpayers struggling to stay in their homes.

Without such cuts, the township would be facing a greater municipal tax increase this year, due largely to revenue losses including the annual $4.5 million payment from Toll Brothers, which has filed litigation against the township over the Golden Triangle redevelopment deal. Stahl said in March that the administration had reduced an initial municipal tax rate increase of 42 cents to 23 cents, and officials have continued looking for cuts in subsequent weeks.