On June 26, 2026, I published a Patch article arguing that Berkeley Heights can support a strong public library and still demand a real spending audit.

I love our library. I also read the budget. Both things can be true - and right now the numbers deserve a hard look.

For 2026, Berkeley Heights is funding the library at $1,737,267.48 - the one-third-mill appropriation New Jersey law requires. Set that against the library's own reported usage, 47,888 visits in the most recent state data, and the town is spending roughly $36 to $39 per visit. Using the 2024 operating-expenditure baseline, that figure was about $25 per reported visit. The cost per visit has climbed sharply, and residents have not been shown why.

Here is the number that should stop you. Among the 41 New Jersey municipal libraries serving towns our size, Berkeley Heights ranks 8th or 9th highest in spending per resident, but sits around the middle of the pack for actual visits per capita. We are paying like a top-tier library and getting median traffic. That gap is the whole issue.

Then there is the money that quietly moved. Across two December votes, $300,000 in 2024 and $250,000 in 2025, the Library Board shifted $550,000 out of operating funds and into a capital reserve. New Jersey has an excess-funds law, N.J.S.A. 40:54-15: unrestricted money above the library's audited operating costs is supposed to be identified and, when it qualifies, returned to the town for taxpayer relief. The obvious question is whether that surplus was tested under the law, or parked in a reserve before anyone had to ask.

And the records do not reconcile cleanly. Salaries jumped 18.4% in a single year. Marketing was budgeted at $10,000 but had spent $17,447 by June; postage budgeted at $1,000 had spent $22,832; a recurring line labeled "Reimagining" keeps reappearing. None of that proves wrongdoing. All of it proves the point: a public institution funded by your taxes should not require residents to file records requests to understand where the money goes.

Let me be clear about what this is not. The town cannot simply seize library money - the law protects it, and it should. This is not a call to defund anything. Much of that $1.7 million is legally mandated. The question is only about the spending above the mandate, and whether it is matched to real public use.

What I am asking for is basic accountability: a public dashboard showing cost per visit, per checkout, per active cardholder, and per program, plus a plain answer on that $550,000. If the library can show the spending matches the use, it should publish the proof. If it cannot, the surplus should be tested under the excess-funds law and returned.

A library can be beloved and still need an audit. A trustee can be well-meaning and still owe the public oversight. A dedicated tax can be perfectly legal and still turn into a blank check. Berkeley Heights residents should not have to choose between supporting our library and asking hard questions about its budget. We can do both.

Read the full investigation and source record:

Edmund Tom Maciejewski is a candidate for Berkeley Heights Township Council.

Paid for by Edmund Maciejewski for Council.