Your right. It's not a child friendly position at all.

According to the union contract that expires this year, library employees received no increase in 2010, a 1% increase in 2011 and a 1% increase in 2012. So much for 6% raises.
As far as the town picking up hidden charges, the library is a TOWNSHIP library and tax money supports it.
Unchecked hiring? Obscene travel expenses? Would love to see some documentation rather than unsupported comments.

There is a clause in the deed for the Lincroft branch, a former school house, that reverts ownership to the Board of Education if the Twp closes that library branch. The Bayshore branch is owned by the Twp and the property could potentially be sold. The Navesink branch is owned by the Duryea-Navesink Library Association, a non-profit, whose board decides how the building will be used. The Association provided the building for use as a library at no charge -- formal rent was $1.

As I mentioned in a prior post, the raises not only recognized the 2% health care contribution, but also sought to bring salaries to competitive levels to attract qualified staff. After three years, someone earning $25K would see a salary increase to only about $29K after the 2% contribution.

Well, Gary, first of all, the amount of money the library has to pay back top the township each year is determined by the CFO hired by the TC. If he makes an error, which he did this year, why is it that you are blaming the library? Also, if you would actually read any of the facts, the library staff HAS NOT RECEIVED 6% raises in many years, more like 1%. With regard to pensions and going to county system, why don't you check the N.J. public employee salaries/pensions (http://www.app.com/section/DATA/DataUniverse) so that you can see that Monmouth County Library staff do get pensions and many make more than the staff at the Middletown Public Library? Most libraries pay time and a half for Sundays if they are even open or hire outside staff to work just the weekends and they are paid a higher rate than the regular employees but without benefits. You might want to check your facts before making all these cost-saving assumptions. It seems YOU need to stay away from the Republican political mailers especially when the mayor knows full well that no library staff gets double time for Sundays yet states it on the patch. With that type of behavior, why should statements by the TC committee or the library board be believed?

Travel costs were nominal and pertained to conference attendance for a few key staff who hold masters degrees in library science. The event allows staff to keep current with innovation in the field and thus was deemed a worthwhile expenditure.

07748 - you are obviously a Democrat and this state is run by your party. Rather than trash the greatest governor this state has ever had, you may want to call Democrat Steve Sweeney, the union guy, who is also a paid senator and a paid freeholder about the system that you are complaining about and that they created. Remember, it was the great Chris Christie who took on the unions and got them to pay more for their pensions and benefits. As for this library - it is about time someone pulled the plug on the jet set lifestyle of the director and her staff.

Joe- Where is the leadership from the Gov. on this pension issue? He claims to have garnered bi-partisan support for other pension reforms, why has he not taken on this one? And no, I am not a democrat, nor a republican. Proud to be one who can think for himself.

@07748 - the leadership is this: the governor managed to do the impossible which is to get the greedy unions to agree to pay more into their pensions and health benefits, something the Democrats fought tooth and nail. Christie is a minority in Trenton and as such, can't just wave a magic wand and do everything he would like. Just watch this year how the unions come out to try and knock Christie out as payback for his fighting for the taxpayers. As for the library, I understand that they are also union workers, which explains the obscene 6% pay raise and the overtime for working on Sundays. What they should do is stagger the work week, you know some people work Tues-Sun. so they will only be paid straight time. But then, the unions wouldn't be unions if they weren't squeezing every last dime out of the taxpayers. I hope the library board doesn't back down until they get to the bottom of all the spending at the library.

Joe-What I find to be obscene is how politicians of both political parties work the pension system to their advantage and the taxpayers disadvantage. Someone who accumulates 17 years of time in a pension system while making a very, very small contribution to it, and then will cash out based on over a $90K salary is obscene. This abuse is wide spread throughout the state and no Gov., democrat or republican, has addressed it to any meaningful degree. How does one who earns such a nominal amount of money even qualify for a pension? In NJ they do because the politicians made it that way, politicians from both parties. We need a Gov. who has the guts to eliminate this abuse of taxpayers money.

Advantages and disadvantages of moving to the county system need to be carefully weighed. There may be no cost savings. Details about the process and the numbers are being gathered. There are still many unanswered questions at this time. I will post about this when more is known.

Something that needs to be studied is whether there would be a significant shift in which branch Middletown residents use with a move to the county system. Most may continue to use the main branch on New Monmouth Road, which is going to see an increase in usage with the closure of the three smaller branches. Joining the county system would further increase the demand for resources there. We should measure these impacts before making any decision to ensure that residents' needs are being met.

There is really no need to measure anything. We should just shut down the library. Get a kindle.