Sag Harbor Library Vote an Easy Read

Voters in the Sag Harbor School District approved the John Jermain Memorial Library’s 2017 budget last Thursday with a final count of 159 votes in favor and 17 in opposition.

The approximately $2.6 million spending plan will increase the library tax by about $11 per household for the year.

Catherine Creedon, the library director, thanked the Sag Harbor voters in an email to the community following the counting of the votes.

“It seems fitting that this year’s vote was held during Banned Book Week, the annual celebration of libraries’ unwavering commitment to protecting intellectual freedom for the communities we serve,” Ms. Creedon wrote. “It was our first public vote in the restored building, and a day of very moving moments, including the sight of our teen writers coming in to vote after school.”

The library board had voted to override the tax cap this year, producing a tax levy increase of about 2.4 percent that then needed a simple majority of voter approval to pass. The budget includes more money to pay custodians, who are now caring for a larger building, which recently reopened to the public after several years of renovations and an expansion. The budget will also fund additional employee hours to run more programs and staff a library that has been busier than in past years, Ms. Creedon has said.

Three library board trustee candidates ran unopposed. Two incumbents, Nick Gazzolo and Alison Bond, retained their seats, and a newcomer, Dan Glass, was elected.