Library Budget Votes, Trustee Elections on Tap

Small budget increases are slated for library district residents in the Huntington and South Huntington library districts in the upcoming April 5 elections. One 5-year trustee spot also is open in both districts.

In Huntington, voters will be asked to approve an $8.7 million budget that calls for a 2.7% increase, which results in a 71 cent per $100 assessed valuation tax rate increase. It is a 4.1% change in the tax rate, according to budget materials presented Tuesday during a board of trustees meeting, and an overall 5.2% operating budget increase.

The average homeowner with a $4,000 assessment will see their library tax bill go up $28.40; with a $6,000 assessment, $42.60; and with an $8,000 assessment, $56.80, according to figures supplied with the budget.

The biggest change is that an additional $254,375 has to be set aside for retirements, a 63% increase, to meet a state requirement, noted Debra Englehardt, library director. There also is an additional $2,230 going to pay the MTA tax, and $150,000 has been allotted for building preservation, including new carpet in both the main and station branch.

Book expenses for the main library remain the same, $157,000, while the budget for electronic resources rose from $86,000 to $95,000 and the budget for downloadables rose from $47,500 to $75,000, about 58%. Programming costs remained flat at $125,000.

Circulation figures at Huntington show a 5% decrease in figures complied for a state report on use in 2010, but the number of library users is up and meeting use is up, Michael Bogin, assistant director, told the board. "I think they love us in other ways," he said. 

In South Huntington, voters will be asked to approve a $5.6 million budget that calls for a 2.7% increase, with a 42 cent tax rate increase per $100 of assessed valuation. The library tax for the average homeowner with property assessed at $3,300 is estimated at $410, an increase of $13.78 over 2010.

Of that 2.7% increase, 2.3% is going to fund New York state retirements requirements, said Joseph Latini, library director. The budget allots a total of $375,000 for retirement funds, up from $250,000 last year. They kept the rest of expenses in line to get through the year. “We looked real hard to keep this from going berserk,” Latini said.

Library budgets have a history of being passed across Suffolk County, he noted and Englehardt concurred. The yes votes usually run above 80% in South Huntington, he said. “We have been fiscally prudent. People like their libraries,” Latini said. 

Use at South Huntington is up over last year by 17,259 visitors, Latini said, although the big spike came in 2008, when use jumped 20%. This year’s budget “tightens belts pretty tight but maintains the services we’ve been providing,” he said.

South Huntington is decreasing the amount it spends on print reference materials by $20,000, about 24%, Latini said, because so much more is available through online databases and the print references are not being heavily used. Its electronic reference budget remains steady at $57,000. The library also reduced to zero dollars from $4,000 the amount set aside this year for unemployment insurance since only one employee took advantage of early retirement in 2010.

In Huntington, Tuesday's board of trustees meeting was testy at times as George Dobler, president of the unionized library employees, pressed for more information on money in the unallocated fund balance and asked how an accurate budget could be presented when contract negotiations are ongoing. He said he got information from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office that the library’s fund balance has been “huge” since 2008. Trustee Charles Rosner noted the fund balance is around $850,000.

Money from that fund, $200,000, has been added to the proposed revenue to help offset steep increases in funds that must be allocated to the state Employee Retirement System and the state health insurance plan, said Engelhardt. She said she had only operating budget information with her at the meeting and would provide information to those interested in the fund balance when she could check financial reports. She noted the library paid for the security system from that fund, and last year spent $18,000 from it when the library was treated to remove a bedbug infestation.

Rosner cautioned that the library can’t spend down its fund balance too far. In addition to the state requiring a certain balance, Rosner said, “we cannot exist without that reserve fund.” He likened it to a piggy bank and said once it is spent down, there’s no way to refill it. “You cannot continue to tap your piggy bank for operating funds.”

Unionized Huntington library staff has been working without a contract since June 30, 2010. Contract talks are now in mediation; if there is no resolution, the next step would be fact finding through the state Public Employment Relations Board. Staff are Suffolk County civil service employees, benefits are through New York state, and the tax monies are collected by the school district, Englehardt said. She noted the board has set aside what it considers an appropriate amount to deal with contract negotiations.

The board also was taken to task by board of trustees candidate Andy Jarmolowski and resident Abby Pariser for running trustee Rosner’s bio in the library’s March/April newsletter since he is the trustee who is up for re-election. Trustee profiles appear periodically in the newsletter, and members agreed it was poor timing to use Rosner’s bio in this month’s newsletter. That happened after another trustee said she was too busy to provide her information for that issue and said to use another trustee’s bio.

Trustee Elections

Two candidates are running for one five-year term on the South Huntington library board of trustees. The South Huntington Public Library budget vote and trustee election will be held on Tuesday, April 5, from 3-10 p.m. in the library's meeting room on the lower level.

Stuart Horowitz has been on the library board since 2000. He has served as president, vice president and financial chairperson. During this time the library building, collections and services were successfully expanded. He has twice been elected to the board of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, where he served as treasurer, vice president, and president. Prior to becoming a library trustee he was president of the Friends of the South Huntington Library and is still an active member. He works as the librarian at Harborfields High School. Horowitz has lived in Huntington Station for 34 years, and his children are Whitman graduates.

 Steve Haddock grew up near the old library on Depot Road and remembers Mrs. Moore and the Summer Reading Program. He said he frequents the library two to three times a week and he enjoys history books and spy fiction, as well as library programs, and reading with his children. He works for Adecco Corp. in Melville. He is the financial secretary and an assisting minister at St. Peter’s in Huntington Station.

In Huntington, two candidates also are running for one five-year term on the board of trustees. The trustee election and budget vote will take place Tuesday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the main library, 338 Main St.

Charles Rosner was elected last year to fill a vacancy on the board and is seeking his first full 5-year term. He is a retired businessman who said he has the time to devote to community service and finds the library position challenging and interesting. He most recently was CEO of Gemco Ware and before that worked as president and chief operating officer of Ecko Housewares; he is a Harvard Business School graduate. Rosner serves as board secretary and sits on two board committees, Budget and Finance and Services and Programs. He has been a Huntington resident for 16 years, and has three grown children.

Andy Jarmolowski is manager of the Barnes & Noble bookstore at Smith Haven Mall. He describes himself as a “book person” and says he and his wife, along with their 5-month-old daughter, are active patrons. He said he believes in community service and would like to give back to the community through the library and thinks his digital media experience would be helpful. He has lived in Huntington for four years.

Note: This story was updated to list correct attribution for who stated the Huntington library's fund balance.