Board members cut the ribbon at the Longport Public Library grand opening July 29, 2017.
LONGPORT – After two years operating with technical support from the Margate Public Library, the Longport Public Library Board of Trustees has decided to go it alone.
The Margate Board of Commissioners Aug. 15 passed a resolution dissolving a shared services agreement that was first approved in August two years ago and renewed for a one-year term last year. The agreement ends Aug. 31.
The resolution states that the Margate and Longport libraries will “keep open lines of communication and look for ways to further partner with each other going forward.”
Longport Mayor Nicholas Russo said he is grateful Margate was there when the borough needed help establishing its own library.
“Margate has a long-established library and employees with lot of wisdom. They were essential in getting us up and running and I appreciate everything they did for us, especially Jim Cahill and Dominick Potena. I will never lose sight of that,” he said.
The Longport Library occupies the same space as the county branch that closed abruptly Dec. 30, 2016, after Longport residents passed a non-binding referendum Nov. 8, 2016 to withdraw from the county library system and form their own public library. At the time, the Board of Commissioners said it was confident the borough could run its own library just as efficiently as the county, and at a lower cost to taxpayers.
In 2017, Longport paid $623,009 in county library taxes, but according to borough officials, it only cost the county $280,184 to run it. The average homeowner with a house assessed at $1.1 million paid $451 in county library taxes that year. Longport was required to pay the county the full one-third of a mil of assessed valuation library tax, which was approximately $650,000 for two years after the borough left the library system.
Over the last two years, Margate provided Longport with the use of its computerized “Sierra” digital library access system, but Longport Library Director Ricky Gerhardt said the borough decided to use a different integrated library system.
“The numbers made sense to go with our own system and we really liked The Library Corporation’s system,” Gerhardt said.
Margate Library Director James Cahill said he wishes the Longport Library all the best.
“We helped give them lift-off,” Cahill said. “It was their determination to have a different system, but our clientele is the same, so in a sense, things will remain the same.”
The libraries will continue to participate in the statewide Interlibrary Loan System, so if a Longport patron needs a book that’s in the Margate Library, it will be provided, Cahill said.
Gerhardt said the library now has its own Board of Trustees that is fully operational.
“We are grateful for the relationship with Margate, but we have reached the point now that we should establish our own collection and computer system. We knew it would eventually get to this point, it just happened sooner than we expected,” he said.
The success at the Longport Library not only includes children’s programs, such as the summer reading program, but also the cultural and community events it hosts, including craft programs, movie nights, book clubs, speaker series and an art gallery.
More than 250 people attended an event held in the Longport Borough Hall’s Centennial Room on the second floor of the former Betty Bacharach Rehabilitation Hospital that featured author Delia Owens, whose book “Where the Crawdads Sing,” is currently number one on several best seller lists.
“This is our first official summer with our Board of Trustees in place and even those who were skeptical when we left the county system are happy with what we have done,” Gerhardt said.
The library is hosting another concert in the park behind Borough Hall 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13 featuring the local folk-rock band Sunny Dae & Pearle.
According to Gerhardt, the Board of Trustees now collects the full library tax, and this year’s library budget was $385,000, up from $220,000 the prior year. Gerhardt said the increase was needed to cover legal and auditing fees, personnel, materials and programming.
After an additional eight years of collecting the full mil rate, any remaining funds not used by the library can be turned over to the borough or used for another purpose.
The library board recently appointed a committee to develop a three-year strategic plan addressing immediate and long-term needs, Gerhardt said.
However, there are no plans for an expansion at this time, he said.
“We’re trying to do the best we can within our budget,” he said.
