Votes in Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton
Voters in the Sag Harbor School District and Bridgehampton and Sagaponack School Districts will decide the fate of the proposed 2017 budgets for the John Jermain Memorial Library and Hampton Library, respectively, during budget votes coming up in the next week.
The Hampton Library vote is planned for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Bridgehampton and Sagaponack voters will be voting to fund separate portions of the library budget. Bridgehampton’s share of the tax levy is $1,003,300, an increase of $15,880 over last year’s budget, and Sagaponack’s share of the tax levy is $663,800, an increase of $15,103 over last year.
Kelly Harris, the library’s director, said the average tax increase works out to $2.76 per household for the entire year. She said the biggest area of growth in spending is on personnel costs, about $26,500, which includes a “modest raise” for employees. The library would spend $7,000 more on programs and operations, and $1,000 more on materials.
“I would like to point out that thanks to the completion of our new heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system, we’re seeing a decrease in our buildings and grounds line,” Ms. Harris said. “We’re seeing some savings there and adding quite a bit of money into programming — educational, entertaining, interesting — for patrons of all ages.”
The John Jermain Memorial Library vote is planned for next Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. On the table is a $2,596,069 spending plan that carries a year-over-year tax levy increase of 2.4 percent. Because the library board voted to override the tax cap, the budget will need a simple majority vote from the community to pass. The average tax increase would be about $11 per household for the year.
The budget includes more money for custodial hours to care for the larger building, which recently reopened to the public after several years of renovations and an expansion. The proposed budget also includes additional employee hours to run more programs and staff a library that has been busier than in past years, according to Catherine Creedon, John Jermain’s director.
“The budget increase is lower both in terms of dollars and percentage than what was approved by the voters last year,” she said. “We are still learning how our beautiful building operates, and are aware that the months ahead hold some unknowns, but we were also committed to keeping the increase as low as possible.”
When it comes to elections, four seats are open on the Hampton Library board and three are open on the John Jermain board. Candidates running for those seats are all unopposed. For the Hampton Library, Sandra Ferguson and Matthew Rojano would represent Bridgehampton, and Tom White would represent Sagaponack. Sarah Stenn is running to represent Sagaponack, though her campaign is a write-in one because her nominating petition came in late.
For John Jermain, Nicholas Gazzolo, the current board president, is running to retain his seat, as is Alison Bond. Daniel Glass is stepping up to run as a new member.