After prolonged negotiations that lasted for almost a full year, North Bergen and Guttenberg officials have reached an agreement on an eight-year contract that will enable Guttenberg residents to utilize the North Bergen Free Public Library.
According to North Bergen Library Executive Director Sai Rao, there was a feeling of relief when Library Board Attorney Donald DeLeo, who is also the Hudson County surrogate, reached the agreement with Guttenberg attorney Wilfredo Ortiz last week.
“I think we’re all very relieved,” Rao said. “It has been on my mind every day for the last six months, because I really haven’t been able to organize programs without knowing what was going to happen with the contract. I’ve been trying to work on programs and budgets, but it’s hard not knowing. So we’re all very happy that it’s been settled.”
According to the terms of the deal, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2000 and runs through Dec. 31, 2007, North Bergen will accept Guttenberg’s first payment of $44,000, which was the old annual contract rate, but for each year after, the payment will increase by $14,143.
So, by the final year of the contract, Guttenberg would be required to pay $143,001.
A year ago, the North Bergen Free Public Library sent a bill of $144,000 to Guttenberg to retain library services for the upcoming year. That figure was unacceptable to Guttenberg, especially since the township has been in a severe budgetary crisis for the past 18 months.
North Bergen looked to renegotiate the contract after learning that Guttenberg was paying far below the state minimum for municipalities to offer free library services. A statewide formula was implemented showing how much a municipality should contribute according to the overall assessed property value of the township, as well as the total number of estimated patrons.
“I’d rather be able to get library services at a cheaper price,” Guttenberg Councilman David Delle Donna said. “But North Bergen was good enough to spread the difference over seven years. Once we realized that we had to spend one-third of a mil (a mil is a figure directly related to the assessed value of the land) toward library services according to state regulations, then we had to do something.”
Added Delle Donna, “Do I wish we could spend less? Sure. But at this rate, it’s going up $14,100 a year instead of $144,000 right away. And it’s not bringing the Bulls Ferry property into consideration, which will make our assessed value go up even more. The North Bergen Free Public Library does a fantastic job and provides great services. I always felt we could work on an agreement. The first figures provided too big of a jump in one year. We never would have been able to afford it.”
Rao felt that she was only doing what she was supposed to do, in terms of securing the best agreement possible. “It’s part of the consortium known as the Bergen County Cooperative Library System,” Rao explained, stating that 72 North Jersey libraries are part of that BCCLS group. “In its by-laws, a contributing town must contributing one-third of the mil. When it was time to renew the contract, I had to inform the board and our attorney that we were not receiving that. I was confident in our services and our facility.”
Rao kept the faith that a deal could be reached.
“I did feel that the deal would come,” Rao said. “We were hopeful that Guttenberg would be able to work out their financial situation. We never even thought about discontinuing any services to the patrons. And we have many regular patrons of this library from Guttenberg. It was not the patrons’ problem. It would be unfair to curtail any services to the patrons.”
DeLeo said that the library was always dealing in “good faith.”
“We were willing to work with their timetable,” DeLeo said. “As a sign, North Bergen agreed to continue the old rate for the year where the negotiations were ongoing.”
Both sides believe that it was a fair accord.
“I think we did the best that we could,” Delle Donna said. “I’m happy with the deal.”
With the contract in place, Rao said that she can now focus her attention on other items at hand, such as the new Spanish Language Story Hour and Homework Help for Spanish-speaking and bilingual students, beginning next Saturday and running every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The story hour is made possible by a grant from Toys ‘R Us.