Editorial: Public input necessary for solution to Cranbury library issues

[Cranbury Conservative]

Regarding the idea of the town using any of our tax dollars via bond or whatever means can we think big picture here?

How can we argue the 269 Affordable Housing unit number when we are ready to spend millions of dollars on a new Library which no one has proven we need?

I can see it now a few years from now when we are still fighting the 269 Affordable Housing units we have to build and our attorney is in court arguing how Affordable Housing will bankrupt Cranbury and forever change the uniqueness of the town.

If I were the attorney on the other side fighting for the Affordable Housing I would simply then use this argument…

“Yes your honor Cranbury’s case is built on how Affordable Housing will bankrupt their town and change it forever your honor. Yet they have the ability to spend 1 million dollars on a baseball field that no one in their town will use and they also spent millions of dollars on a new library for a town of less the 4000 people your honor. Now does this seem like a town that cannot afford to build Affordable Housing for those who need it most in their community the teachers, police and firefighters? This town has a history of ….”

My point is we need to focus on COAH / Affordable Housing because that will bankrupt or town and change it forever.

Let’s talk about a new library once we have addressed our unfair Affordable Housing obligation.

[Guest]

[Guest]

The Public Library has money in the bank. However, this money could never be used to pay down taxes in the current situation because the Public Library has needs…the Public Library is in trouble. The residents in town say that the library should have more books and more services. The school is curtailing their daytime hours. The State Librarian would never approve a give back of the library’s money in light of these facts. It seems simple to me. The Public Library has money. They should plan for the future.

[Guest]

The fact is neither you nor I know what the state would say, so there is no harm in asking.

Yes, I meant real surplus. As commercial properties come on board we get additional tax revenue. If in a year there is no surplus none is budgeted. I also am not saying it all has to go to a library, hence the public donation. However, havinga portion earmarked would be preferable to me than incurring more debt later on. I am alos not syainga library now, however, if COAH does go through the school will most certainly force the library to leave. I'd rather be prepared in that scenario to keep a library than to lose it or have to build the COAH homes and library through a bond.

[Guest]

A NJ Law was passed this spring, S429/A1265, that allows transfer of funds to a municipality under specific circumstances that the State Librarian must approve. I am a professional librarian and I can say that if the Public Library can show that the library has plans and the community uses and wants more library services, the State Librarian would never approve the transfer.

[Guest]

I am all for an improved public library and saving for that goal. Also, raising private funds would be great. There is a lot of community support for our library. We need our public library especially in these economic times....and if we can do so without raises taxes, I am definitely in favor.

[Guest]

[Guest]

1) On the commercial rateables, unless there is another revaluation you won't see the cost pushed back onto the residents. I don't think anyone would support another revaluation. So that point is moot for the time being.

2) On the surplus, I am defining a surplus as income-expenses, meaning no tax rate increase. If we can meet expenses without raising taxes and there is a surplus remaining than dedicate a portion of that for saving for a library. We have over 13 mill of debt, so that number your quoting is wrong. However, if we get an annual surplus of 1 mill, then I have no issue taking 200K banking it for a library and using 800K to retire debt. The reason being that I'd rather not retire debt only to increase it later on. I want a solid financial situation. Again, the private donations are a critical aspect of funding for the building.

[Guest]

Just to add a point of clarification to my post above. As of the end of 2006, we had a debt of 25.156 mill.

Building a library with pure cost on the town would further the debt limit, which is why I oppose that idea and encourage private donations plus limited township support.

Given our debt today and COAH if the town has a surplus of 1 mill then with this number I'd rather allocate any yearly surplus as part to fund major expenditures whether it be a library as I said, preserving land, or other such large purchase that may come down the pike so we can avoid adding more debt. If you do an 80%/20% split with 80% going to debt and 20% being banked you end up positioning yourself for the long term. Otherwise you pay off debt only to reincur it at a later date.

[Guest]

New Jersey Law and Municipal Public Library funding.
Once a municipal public library is established in New Jersey, the library is funded by 1% of a mil of assessed real estate value in that town. We pay our taxes and the state sends the township back the amount for the library appropriation. By law this must be given to the library. This amount does not appear as a line item on the town’s budget and can not be reduced by the Township Committee. Some towns augment this funding with additional money. Cranbury does not.
Law: N.J.S.A. 40: 54-8 http://www.njstatelib.org/LDB/Library_Law/lwes0001.php

[1% question]

[bad revaluation]

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

It takes at least 5yrs to plan for a new library building. You can not just rush into it, both Princeton and Plainsboro had a lot of planning upfront before they started the project. First step is to identify how it fits into the Master Plan of the municipality.

Here's how they structured the fundraising, notice how they already had a location identified and general cost estimates before they started to fundraise.

http://www.plainsboronj.com/RFQ-Library_Fundraising_Counsel_combined_format.doc

I still dont see any identifiable need for a change in the public library. To start this type of planning you need to identify an issue with the current arrangement, and since everything I have seen so far with the current arrangement is working well. The Space issues are manageable, security addressed, changed hours are vaible, all this make the join partnership with school even better.

[Library Costs Per Person]

Cost of Plainsboro New Library per resident formula is
11,800,000/ 20,000 = $590/person total cost

that would mean that a similar burden in Cranbury would allow for

$590 * 2500 = 1,475,000 total cost of entire project to be balanced

and if you spread it over 5yrs that's $118 per year for 5 years

But I frankly dont think that Cranbury could ever do it for 1.4mil since the ball field will cost us almost a million already.
So I estimate that the costs will be more like $6-11mil, that's around 8 times more costly then its been for each resident in Plainsboro. That make it over $700 increase per year I estimate.