Update: Library budgets pass in Greenport, Cutchogue
Residents approved proposed budgets in both the Floyd Memorial Library and Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library districts Tuesday night.
At Floyd Memorial Library, the $1.04 million budget was approved by a 136-9 vote.
The 2016 budget carries a nearly $37,380 increase to the tax levy, which corresponds to an added cost of about $6 per average household.
Greenport residents approved the spending plan by at 95-4 vote. Over in the Oysterponds Elementary School District, which includes East Marion and Orient communities, residents voted 41-5 supporting the budget.
Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library district residents approved a proposed six-month budget totaling about $803,600. That spending plan, which will last from Jan. 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016, passed by a 96-18 vote.
Specifically, Cutchogue residents voted 77-16 in favor of the budget. Over in New Suffolk, 19 residents voted “yes” and two people cast dissenting votes.
Library director Jen Fowler has said the spending plan will serve as an interim budget as the library switches to a new fiscal year running from July to June. In doing so, library officials will have easier access to information from the state comptroller’s office regarding tax caps, she said.
“Right now, when doing our budget, we’ve been hoping and guessing on our tax cap,” Ms. Fowler said in an interview last week. “The Board of Trustees felt that we want to get ourselves into the position to best receive the information.”
On April 5, 2016, the library will hold another vote on the full, year-long budget running from July 1, 2016 to June 31, 2017.
