President Lawrence Nelson is incorrect in stating that closing the branches will SAVE the MTPL $300,000 annually. The budget for the three branches combined is $335,000. Staff costs (salaries, benefits) account for 75% of the branches budget, and that staff, since they are senior employees, will be absorbed into the main branch. So where does he come up with SAVING $300,000??? This is convenient math to take the branches "off the books," but Mr. Nelson is misinforming the public.

Are you kidding me! Saving money has NEVER been a consideration since the funding formula changed. Shut off the lights at night, to begin with. They blaze all night long! Missed basics like that point to poor management and follow through.
This is what local government is supposed to do. MTPL is a "tangible" of what our town is.
Just my opinion...

Having a library that's close enough to walk to is nice. The Lincroft Library would be missed by many if closed.

Thank the Middletown Committee for this mess they created. When will the voters of Middletown kick this group of marauders out?

Gee what a shocker, someone in the township "misinforming". That goes right along with the misdirecting that they do all the time

Its a shame but the money has to come from somewhere and I cant afford to pay anymore taxes I have 3 young kids and I do use the library but I get it. Maybe it could be run on a volunteer basis because we cant pay someone more than minimum wage to do that job.

I too pay high taxes! And I pay for my own garbage collection . I also pay to put my kids in catholic school. Every time I turn around I'm getting less and less service that I pay for.i agree , we need new faces in this town! Can you here me Maureen ?!

problem is paying the salary and bennies to the workers if these people need a library next to there house so bad then they can pay a membership fee that will sustain it otherwise theyt can drive to the beautiful middletwon library like everyone else stop being so dam spoiled

it goes without saying the town leaders are corrupt if they were honest people they would not be in local govt

Once again the committee is eroding the quality of life in this town. There is no money available for libraries, but plenty of benefits and fees for political cronies. Typical.

Too bad the Township Committee was allowed to raid the library of their $450,000 reserve fund!!! Shame, shame.

"Raid" is the right word Carol. But it was $499,947, not $450,000. And that was negotiated down from the $2.3 million that Mr. Settembrino asked for shortly after taking office in 2011. The money the township took was not taxpayer dollars, they were reserves accumlated from fines and copier fees for five years that the library was saving to make capital improvements. The reason why there is an INDEPENDENT Library Board is that politics should not be mixed with the library. The library was operating with fiscal prudence and then the township started siphoning off money to plug their own budget holes and stay beneath the 2% cap. Their treatment of the library budget as their piggy bank is unfair to the taxpayer who is paying their library tax and not getting library services for that tax.

I am a former Lincroft resident, volunteered at the Lincroft Library, and my children grew up using the library. I am deeply saddened to read about the possible closing of Lincroft and the other branches, and feel the children of Middletown will be the losers! Please, committee members, reconsider!

Once again parsing words to deflect the blame onto the Library board. The township took money from the library, now the library is forced to close branches. It is the fault of the township committee that the library branches are going to close. The Middletown Township committee is once again lowering the quality of life here in our town.

Conservative Mom, I never said I didn't live in Middletown. I grew up in Lincroft and moved over to a different ZIP Code in the Township when I got married. I've been a Middletown resident for over 30 years and I'm well aware of the politics here. I was simply correcting Cam's use of the word "committee". Regardless of the behind the scenes politics that led them to their decision, it WAS the ultimate decision of the Library Board to close the branches. Again, I don't like or agree with the closures, I'm simply correcting the the misconception that it was the Township Committee's direct decision to close the branches. There was no Committee meeting, there was no resolution to close. The Library Board did the deed.

Come out to the Library Board Meeting on Wednesday, January 16th at 7pm. Speak your mind publicly where it goes on public record in front of the Library Board of Trustees. The Township Committee members would be better informed of the public's opinions if they were to attend this meeting as well. BUT THE PUBLIC MUST SHOW UP IN NUMBERS!!!

I hate seeing the libraries go but no one uses them

I love how people twist things to their own political (and personal) ends.

The money transferred from surplus last year is being replaced by the bonding the town is doing to pay for the parking lot expansion at the Main Library. The town is going to pay more than the dollars taken.

The Library Board has gotten away with taking tens of thousands of dollars EVERY YEAR in pension and health insurance payments out ot the town budget. This year that has ended, bringing on the fiscal crisis that has led to closing the branches.

Cutting staff and materials at the Main Branch by the same amounts that staff and materials will be cut from the closing branches could have left the branches open, but the Library Director decided to recommend closing the branches. Their choice, NOT the town's.

Get the facts straight, at least...

It's time Middletown should stop allowing non residents to posses library cards if they're Brookdale students or charge them at least $5 for a library card. As far as I know other towns that have Brookdale campuses don't open their public libraries to the students, so Middletown should consider chopping that perk. I bet the chip cards aren't cheap.

"Money transferred from surplus..." and you accuse people of twisting things.

Facts are pesky things, aren't they Mr. York? Some people want to forget that there was a "give" on the part of the town as well as the "take." And they want to ignore the fact that the taxpayer was supplementing the Library budget from the town's budget for years. Fortunately, common sense has finally prevailed.

So the township committee forces the library to give up some of its surplus, and now the library needs to close branches? Libraries certainly are necessary -- not everything is on the Internet, and not everyone has the money to buy the books they want to read. And Ms. Heller, shame on your if you think special ed and libraries are a waste of money. Just because you're not using either, that doesn't mean they aren't necessary. I've never yet had to call the police, but I wouldn't suggest that we stop funding them.

FACT: The MTPL has over $450,000 in surplus in their proposed budget for 2013
FACT: The MTPL has enough money to run the branches in 2013. However, they will need to use that surplus to do so.
FACT: The MTPL will most likely see a decrease in funding in 2014 from it's formula due to the Hurricane damaged properties.

To say that the library does not have any surplus is preposterous. They certainly have more than enough surplus as required by law. The issue for the board is for the future. Do you use surplus in this year to keep the branches open and potentially cause issues for your main branch in 2014. The director has recommended not doing that. How can you argue that point?

Cleary facts are not relevant to some people, Bob. They would much rather accept rumor because it's easier that way - and perhaps more fun.

I think the Board has made a wise choice, although I do feel sorry for the people who used the branch libraries. They will just have to go to the centrally located main branch.

If past Library Boards didn't spend unwisely, they would have seen this coming and been prepared. But common sense is now being used. The Library should be okay going forward...

Where was Scharefenberger all those years when the library board was supposedly taking advantage of the taxpayers? Did he only have to pay attention when the TC needed some cash? Funny how the same person who failed to protect the taxpayers for the past decade is rewarded. Something smells rotten here.

Can't speak for the Mayor, but quite likely the budget crisis of the past several years led to looking in every nook and cranny for ways to save taxpayer dollars. Apparently the Swim Club was costing taxpayers too - it's now successfully sold. Staff has been cut, recreation programs examined and reformulated... Much has been done in the past few years to tighten up the town budget.

That rottenness you say you smell? Probably sour grapes.

Ms. Heller, I have rarely before read such an ignorant statement. Anne responded more appropriately than I could, and faster, as it took me all day to get my jaw up off the floor. Enjoy your iPad.

Let's remember how the town went about taking the money from the library. It was "give us the money or we lay off 10 Police Officers". Thereby making it a Library vs. the Police Dept. issue. In reality the town did this to scare the residents into believing their safety would be impacted if they could not make this money grab. How much did the arts center hand over to the town to fill the towns budget gap? How much is the arts center spending a month running the heat and air conditioning continuously and at the same time to control their humidity problem? How much did the fancy digital sign in front of the arts center cost? Look at what has been and is being spent on the arts center and you will find a significant part of the towns money woes.

Shouldn't Gerry and Company have been looking in those "nooks and crannies" for waste even before a budget crisis? Or was the Township Committee just a place to stretch out all those years they ignored the waste?

The word is that Anthony Mercantante has concocted a plan to use those closed library buildings after all. Since his college buddy is using the Croydon Hall campus for the all-girls school which caused the board of health and other Middletown entities to use trailers (which by the way, cost more to rent than the rent they're getting from those renting Croydon Hall for the school). He plans to use those closed libraries to house the Middletown Twp stuff. However, the Navesink branch belongs to a Middletown family and the DEED specifies that the building may be used only for a library and should it cease to be a library, the building reverts back to the original owner. Shady dealings once again by our township committee, much like that landlocked property the township bought that was owned by Sharfy years ago. As useless to us taxpayers as "tits on a bull."

Yes Naomi, it all makes sense. This is always the way the people's business has been conducted in Middletown. Someone's buddy or brother profits at the expense of taxpayers, and it is publicized as a WIN/WIN scenario by the committee members. What a shame someone's brother doesn't have a business that would profit from helping the libraries stay open- then our local politicians would find it of the utmost importance to not only keep the local branches open, but build a few new ones!

Naomi, I would love to see some, you know, proof, of your wild assertions. Who went to school with whom? Where? Do you have any facts?

Last I heard, the lease with Trinity HS was still being negotiated, so how do you know how much the school is paying per month - is that public information somewhere or are you just making stuff up?

And as far as utilizing buildings that the town owns, would you rather have the town pay for modular office space or use a building that the Library no longer intends on using? It seems to me that spending less and making use of available space is actually good administration, no?

It's kind of fun to make things up on the internet, isn't it?

Oh, and ASimon: You need to get the story straight. Is it "supporting the Library" or is it "waste?" Please note that in recent years the Administrator and the CFO have changed in Middletown, and now we are seeing tighter administration, innovation and saving tax dollars. That's not a coincidence.

Unfortunately being a township committee member is a part time job in Middletown, so they need to rely on the professional staff most of the time. They apparently have hired good staff these past 4-5 years and there are changes being made. I think it's progress, you don't.

You have the right to your opinion, of course, but looking at the results of the elections the last few years, it appears that you are a part of a VERY small minority.