* Two consecutive years of fiscal responsibility - Lowered Municiapal Tax Rate
* Boro of Swedesboro awarded $200.000 in municipal aid for our Streetscape Phase 3 project on Kings Hwy.
* Shared services with Logan Twp. for financial saving for our trash and recycling.
* Shared services with Woolwich Twp. for better police protection and the sharing of the construction code dept. to better serve the needs of our residents. These savings will have a projected approximate positive impact to our taxpayers in the amount of over $ 4 Million dollars through 2014.
* Shared services with Gloucester County that improved our local library system and upgraded the entire building with an addition added to it.
SWEDESBORO — The Swedesboro branch of the Gloucester County Library is now open again, after a year of construction and changes to accommodate its growing number of patrons. The Swedesboro branch library went through a long process to get to this point. At first, very few people believed the building would ever get an upgrade, but the township committee, library staff and the community joined together to make it happen. The borough’s council fought for and approved the funding and construction began in May of 2010 as a satellite branch was opened in the municipal building to accommodate the library’s users. The 4,200-square-foot expansion includes a new children’s area — at least double the size of the former — a teen-study area, equipped with computer stations and tables and offices for the staff. “Everyone can really feel comfortable here,” said Marge Dombrowsky, the library’s branch manager. “There’s more space for children to do their homework and for people to relax and enjoy a community building.”
Swedesboro has had a library since 1796, longer than most municipalities in the state, and the people of the borough have always supported it. More than 200 people came out on June 4 to celebrate the grand reopening, which included food, activities and the Kingsway Dragon Marching Band. “A library has always been important to this town,” Dumbrowsky said. “And it was the people that use the library that came out. You expect the dignitaries but when the town’s people show up, you know it’s important to them.”
In addition to the children’s areas, the new building has room for all of its community programs, which were previously held across the street at the Bethesda Methodist Church, and there is a quiet study room and a few comfortable areas for quiet reading.
“A library is such an important thing for a community,” said Rick Sandquist, a library patron and Woolwich Township resident. “The expansion really gives the community somewhere to utilize.”
The architecture of the old building, which some were worried would be destroyed with the reservation, was kept intact, from the wood and marble in the front of the building to the original desk that was built specifically for the building in 1944. All of the renovations were to the expansion in the rear of the structure. - Gloucester County Times - 06/12/11
