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The decision — which requires the council to repay six yearly payments of $62,527 starting next May — was made at Tuesday night’s town council meeting, NJ.com reports.
The funds will come from the town’s Phillipsburg Free Public Library budget, Mayor Todd Tersigni said.
The town owes the funds due to the 1990 Library Federation Agreement between the county, the report said, though officials voted to end the contract in June 2018 prior to the opening of the Southwest Branch in Greenwich Township three months later.
The agreement also allows the town to pay back the debt through library collection items. The quantity of the debt is attributed to the funding of approximately $3.75 million from the county from 2011 to 2017, the report says.
A 2018 audit attributes just $1,500 of the library’s $965,000 to books, said Councilwoman Danielle DeGerolamo, who called the installment plan a better deal for the library as well as the town and residents, according to the report.
“We are pleased that Mayor Tersigni and a majority of Phillipsburg Town Council have agreed to this proposal,” said Warren County Freeholder James Kern III in a statement to lehighvalleylive.com. “This outstanding contractual obligation will be satisfied and town leaders can now focus on fully funding their library.”
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