Bedtime Story Time

Thursday, May 8, from 7:15 to 8:00 PM

Bring the kids, in PJs if they wish, with a stuffed animal or favorite blanket for a special story time. No reservations are necessary; just come.

Your Tax Bill and the Library--How the Library is funded

Your tax bill now breaks down the tax levies for the school, Borough and the county. This year there will be a tax levy line for our library showing the library's tax allocation. 

Virtually no one in Ho-Ho-Kus is familiar with how the library is funded, and most residents would be surprised to learn that the Borough government has no direct control over our budget.

The minimum amount the Borough must allocate to the library is mandated by New Jersey State Law to be 0.03% (often referred to as the “1/3 of a mil”) of the total assessed value of all property in the Borough. Our state mandated “1/3 of a mil” appropriation for 2012 will be approximately $419,000. This is based on a total borough assessed value of $1,256,980,325.00; yes, over a billion dollars.

We recognize that, as a small library in a small but prosperous town, it is a larger amount than we need, and we have always returned a substantial amount to the Borough. 

By statute, only the Library Board of Trustees is responsible for allocating and spending that money, not the Mayor and Council.  So we as Trustees have fiscal authority, as well as the legal and moral obligation, to maintain a suitable facility, staff, and collection; however, we are also citizens of the Borough, and taxpayers.  Our 2012 expected expenditures should be approximately $350,000, roughly $250 per average household. Recent improvements in the services, the collection we offer, and our participation in BCCLS and the Bergen eAudio Team make our library a better bargain than ever.

The philosophy of the Board has been, and will continue to be, one consistent with both of those obligations and with common sense.  We budget prudently and return remaining unexpended funds to the Borough, to help in efforts to keep our taxes low. As ever, please contact a member of the Library Board of Trustees if you have questions.