Title 40, Title 40: MUNICIPALITIES AND COUNTIES

40:53-2. Public notices generally; publication. 40:53-2. a. All ordinances or other public notices which any municipality, except cities, may be required by any law to publish, where the manner of publication is not otherwise specifically provided for, shall until March 1, 2026 b…

40:54-1. Establishment; chapter applicable to libraries established under other laws Any municipality may, in the manner hereinafter provided, establish a free public library within its corporate limits. Every library established under this chapter, and every free public library …

40:54-10. Vacancies; how filled Upon the expiration of the term of office of any trustee the mayor or other chief executive officer of the municipality shall appoint a citizen for a term of five years in the same manner as the original appointment was made. Vacancies occurring in…

40:54-11. Trustees; corporate name; organization; officers; certificate; recording and filing The board of trustees shall be a body corporate under the name of "the trustees of the free public library of (name of municipality)" . It shall have corporate powers of succession, may …

40:54-12 Powers of board. 40:54-12. The board shall hold in trust and manage all property of the library. It may rent rooms, or, when proper, construct buildings for the use of the library, purchase books, pamphlets, documents, papers and other reading matter, hire librarians, an…

40:54-12.1. Purchases not requiring advertisements for bids The board of trustees of the free public library of any municipality or of a joint free public library may, within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the board, purchase the following without…

40:54-12.2. Free public library administrators, duties 38. The director or other chief administrative officer of a free public library in any municipality shall: a. cause copies of the voter registration forms and instructions furnished under subsection f. of section 16 of P.L.19…

40:54-13. Trustees; treasurer; bond and duties The treasurer of the board shall give bond in an amount to be fixed by the mayor in cities and by the governing body in municipalities other than cities, payable to the municipality by its corporate name, conditioned for the faithful…

40:54-14. Trustees; compensation; limitation on amount of indebtedness The trustees shall receive no compensation for their services, and shall not incur any expense or enter into any obligations to an amount in excess of the annual appropriation for library purposes and of the f…

40:54-15 Annual report, identification of excess funds to municipality, transfer procedure. 40:54-15. a. The board of trustees shall make an annual report to the chief financial officer of the municipality which shall include a statement setting forth in detail all public revenue…

40:54-16. Appropriation for furnishing Any municipality that shall establish a library under the provisions of this article, or that has heretofore established a free public library pursuant to law, and has purchased or shall purchase lands, and has erected or shall erect buildin…

40:54-17. Fines expended for library purposes The board of trustees of the free public library may use and expend for library purposes all moneys received from library fines and shall account for such receipts and expenditure in the same manner as is required as to funds appropri…

40:54-17.1. Moneys from operation of photocopy machines The board of trustees of a free public library may use and expend for library purposes all moneys received from the operation of photocopy machines within the library and shall account for the receipts and expenditures in th…

40:54-18. Use of money paid by library to municipal treasury The governing body of any municipality may appropriate in the annual budget for the use of the free public library of such municipality a sum equal to the amount of the money paid into the general treasury by the free p…

40:54-19 Devises and bequests to trustees. 40:54-19. The board of trustees may receive, hold and manage any devise, bequest or donation heretofore made or hereafter to be made and given for the establishment, increase or maintenance of a free public library within the municipalit…

40:54-19.1. Loan of funds received as gift or bequest The board of trustees of the free public library may, upon the application of the governing body of the municipality, loan, upon "tax anticipation notes" or "bond anticipation notes" of the municipality, any funds heretofore o…

40:54-19.2. Strict compliance with law in making loans required In the making of any loan authorized by the provisions of section one of this act the pertinent provisions of chapters one and two of Title 40 of the Revised Statutes shall, in all respects, be strictly complied with…

40:54-19.3. Investment of funds; regulation of bonds or securities The board of trustees of the free public library may invest its funds in any interest-bearing obligations of the United States of America, or in interest-bearing bonds of the State of New Jersey, or any county or …

40:54-19.4. Custody of securities; report; minutes When any obligations or bonds purchased by the board of trustees are received by the board, the treasurer of the board shall immediately record the receiving thereof in an appropriate manner and shall, unless otherwise previously…

40:54-19.5. Income from investments All interest, income or profit which may be realized by the board of trustees from the investment, pursuant to this or any other act, of any such funds shall be added to the principal of such funds and be used for the same purpose or purposes f…

40:54-2. Referendum No such library shall be established in any municipality unless assented to by a majority of the legal voters of the municipality, at an election, general or special, at which the question of the adoption of this article shall be submitted to vote by direction…

40:54-20. Gifts of works of art; acceptance and maintenance Any free public library may accept gifts and bequests of paintings, statuary, ceramics and other art objects, and may care for and maintain them in accordance with the provisions of such gift or bequest.

40:54-21. Acceptance of conditional gifts generally In any municipality in which there shall have been established a free public library pursuant to law, the governing body may, by resolution, accept gifts or bequests for the purpose of building a library building therein which m…

40:54-22. Custodian of gifts; expenditure Any gift or bequest, when accepted by the governing body of the municipality, shall be received by the treasurer or other corresponding officer of the municipality and expended by and under the direction of the board of trustees of the fr…

40:54-23. Municipalities may furnish site where buildings are offered; amount When any person has offered or hereafter may offer to the board of trustees of the free public library of any municipality which shall hereafter establish a library under the provisions of this article …

40:54-24. Purchase of site; title At any time after the acceptance of any such last-mentioned gift the trustees of the free public library in any such municipality may purchase, at a cost not exceeding the amount appropriated therefor, a suitable site for the erection of a librar…

40:54-25. Lands and buildings; purchase and alteration; financing; title When, in the judgment of the board of trustees of the free public library in any municipality that shall establish a library under the provisions of this article or has heretofore established a free public l…

40:54-26. Bond issues Any municipality that shall hereafter establish a library under the provisions of this article or has heretofore established a free public library pursuant to law may create and issue bonds for the acquisition of lands, the acquisition and erection and impro…

40:54-27. Redemption of bonds There shall be raised and levied annually by taxation in the municipality issuing such bonds a sum sufficient to pay the interest thereon and to redeem the part or proportion thereof maturing in the fiscal year for which such taxes are levied.

40:54-28. Acquisition of lands by condemnation When the board of trustees of the free public library in any municipality desire to acquire any lands, improved or unimproved, either in whole or in part, for the purposes of its building and library pursuant to the authority and pow…

40:54-29. Transfer of books to library Any public board in any municipality wherein there is a free public library, or any department of the government of the municipality having under its control a library or collection of books useful for such public library, may transfer the c…

40:54-29.10. Joint library trustees The board of trustees of such joint library shall consist of (a) the mayor or other chief executive officer of each participating municipality; (b) the superintendent of schools of the local school district of each such municipality, or, if the…

40:54-29.11. Termination of boards of trustees of free public libraries of participating municipalities; assets and obligations Upon the formation of a joint free public library, the terms of office of the members of the board of trustees of any free public library of any partici…

40:54-29.12. Board of trustees as body corporate; name The board of trustees of the joint library shall be a body corporate under the name of "The trustees of the joint free public library of (insert the names of the participating municipalities, or other appropriate designation)…

40:54-29.13. Board of trustees The board of trustees shall be vested with authority to carry out the purposes of the joint library, in the manner provided for free public libraries governed pursuant to chapter 54 of Title 40 of the Revised Statutes. The powers and duties of board…

40:54-29.13a. Joint free public library administrators, duties 39. The director or other chief administrative officer of a joint free public library serving two or more municipalities shall: a. cause copies of the voter registration forms and instructions furnished under subsecti…

40:54-29.14. Disbursing officer The board of trustees of the joint library shall designate the chief financial officer of 1 of the participating municipalities as the disbursing officer for such joint library. L.1959, c. 155, p. 622, s. 12, eff. Sept. 4, 1959.

40:54-29.15. Employees Employees of any free public library of any participating municipality at the time of the formation of the joint library shall, upon the formation thereof, become employees of the joint library without diminution in salary. L.1959, c. 155, p. 622, s. 13, ef…

40:54-29.16 Certification of sum needed for operation of joint library; apportionment. 14. The board of trustees of the joint library shall, not later than December 1 of each year, certify to the respective municipalities the sum required for the operation of the joint library fo…

40:54-29.17 Raising of sum needed, quarterly payments. 15. The proportionate share of the sum so certified or agreed upon or determined in its annual budget, shall be raised by taxation, pursuant to the provisions of R.S.54:4-49, and shall be paid over to the disbursing officer o…

40:54-29.18. Capital improvements; certification of sums needed; apportionment of costs If the board of trustees shall determine that it is advisable to raise money for the acquisition of lands or a building or buildings or for the improvement of lands or for erecting, enlarging,…

40:54-29.19. Appropriation for capital improvements; borrowing Each municipality, to provide for such capital improvement, shall either: (a) appropriate its proportionate share of the sum or sums for the purposes certified or agreed upon or determined in the same manner as other …

40:54-29.20. Consent to capital improvements; expenditures The board of trustees shall be empowered and authorized, with the consent of the governing bodies of the municipalities, to undertake the purpose or purposes for which such appropriation for capital improvement was made a…

40:54-29.21. Title to realty The title to any real estate acquired pursuant to any such appropriation shall be taken in the names of the municipalities as tenants in common, but the use and control thereof shall be in the board of trustees so long as such real estate is used for …

40:54-29.22. Discontinuance of participation in joint library; notice; joint meeting of governing bodies If the governing body of any municipality shall determine by ordinance to propose to discontinue its participation in the support, maintenance and control of the joint free pu…

40:54-29.23 Discontinuance. 21. When such discontinuance has been agreed upon or determined and if the governing body of the municipality proposing such discontinuance shall determine to proceed therewith, (a) such governing body shall introduce an ordinance authorizing and direc…