“The same costs that a lot of people have at home,” such as electricity, fuel, and insurance, have also gone up for the East Hampton Library, Dennis Fabiszak, its director, said this week. The library’s annual budget vote will take place there on Saturday.
Those rising expenses, plus an almost 30-percent boom in recent years in the size of the population it serves, have led the library to propose a $3.34 million budget for the 2023 fiscal year, which would include a 4.2-percent year-over-year spending increase.
Residents of the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott school districts, which together form the East Hampton Library District, can cast their ballots on the proposal between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday.
An additional $4,000 has been budgeted for activities and events. “That’s directly based on people asking us for more programming, especially children’s programs,” Mr. Fabiszak said. “Instead of turning people away, we’ve been adding more sessions to accommodate the people who are here.”
The collection materials budget is expected to drop $2,780, down to $223,546, which reflects, said the director, a shift in how people are using the library.
“This is the first year that our digital material circulation has exceeded physical materials,” he said. “In our budget — I combine it together for the summary — our physical materials budget, for paper books, DVDs, and CDs, is $87,000. Our budget for digital materials is $136,000. We’re spending a lot more money on it because it’s being used much more.”
The biggest component of the budget plan is approximately $2.4 million for employee salaries, Social Security payments, benefits, and insurance. In that area, there’s an increase of about $99,000. The library anticipates spending $205,800 on maintenance, supplies, landscaping, utilities, and related costs, which together would increase by $12,800.
The library continues to fund-raise to offset taxes, Mr. Fabiszak said. He projects spending $385,000 in 2023 raised from private donors, who have contributed more than $23 million total since 1995.
The average taxpayer would spend $6.54 more for the year to support this budget plan. The total tax-levy increase is $102,846, or 5 percent, which is above the state-mandated cap on tax-levy increases, so the library will need to garner at least 60 percent voter approval for it to pass.
A full budget breakdown is online at easthamptonlibrary.org. Mr. Fabiszak can be phoned at 631-324-0222 for questions.
