Sunday, November 27, 2016

Longport Leaves County Library System


In Longport, residents voted in November to drop out of the Atlantic County Library System in favor of operating their own library.

 The vote in Longport will cost the Atlantic County system about $548,000 in annual property-tax revenue, or more than 8 percent of the almost $6.6 million received from the 18 municipalities in the system.

 In Atlantic County there are five towns — Absecon, Atlantic City, Linwood, Margate and Northfield — that operate their own libraries.

 Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson said the county met with Longport officials, but ultimately it was the residents’ decision to leave.
A previous attempt by Longport to exit the county library system in 2011 was defeated by just seven votes. This year, voters overwhelmingly supported leaving by a vote of 288 to 195.
The local library is located in Longport Borough Hall, and officials have said they believe they can ultimately save about $400,000 per year by operating it themselves.
Levinson said Longport will still have to pay its share of capital projects funded through the county system, but ultimately it was a local decision.

“We would prefer they had stayed,” he said. “The funds they contributed ($548,000) will now have to be divvied up among the other towns.”

In 2015,  Mullica Township paid $139,432 in Library taxes.

The 2015 TOTAL tax was $6,562,181.   Only 17 Atlantic County communities will be paying this tax in the future. 

Entire article at
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/education/county-library-systems-face-taxing-dilemmas/article_7e81f3be-2c07-5e03-9220-98b9f321a003.html



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