Library Likely to Return Some Money to Township

Members of the Board of Trustees said that they would be returning some money to the township government, but did not yet know exactly how much it would be and were not yet ready to draft a formal response at their meeting Wednesday night. Earlier this month, Mayor Kevin Rooney sent a letter asking the board to return excess money from the to the township.

"I don't think anyone in this room has a problem returning tax dollars," Library Board President Vincent Antonacci said.

Rooney's request was based on a state law passed last year which requires municipal libraries to return a portion of their unused operations money to their local government for tax relief and a resolution the board passed on December 2 last year that stated construction costs for the renovations beyond $3,950,800 would be paid for by donations and that any money in the library's capital account beyond that same sum would be moved to the operations account within three years. Funds in the capital account can only be used for improvements to the building and certain purchases. The library returned $307,000 to the township last year.

In his letter, Rooney wrote the Township Committee is expecting $205,000 for 2011, but at their meeting board members said they did not remember ever agreeing to that specific sum. Board Treasurer Alma Mader said she was reviewing the previous year's budget to find the total that would have to be returned. Rooney told Patch the sum had been agreed upon when was still on the Township Committee.

Mader said she would prefer to not give money back until after the renovations are complete.

However, the situation is further complicated by an approximately $1.5 million bequest donated to the library by former patrons Helen and Evelyn Rizzo, who died in 2007 and 2009, respectively. The full amount of the bequest is not yet available to the library and is pending review by the state attorney general, but so far the library has received $1.1 million this year, according to Mader. Pending state legislation would prohibit libraries from giving donated money to municipalities, but currently the law does not protect the Rizzo sisters' bequest.

Board President Antonacci told Patch the December 2 resolution only applies to money that was in the library's operations account at the time.

"That was tax dollars that were in the account at the time," Antonacci said. "The Rizzo money would be separate from that."