Trustees want to hear from residents

A nearly 3 percent increase in the proposed budget for the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library can be attributed to the rising cost of paying for retirement benefits, officials said.

The library is putting up a $5,889,403 fiscal plan for approval on Tuesday, April 5. The new fiscal year begins on July 1. Also on the ballot is the election of trustee Frank Zaret. He is running unopposed.

The proposed plan represents a 2.99 percent increase over the current budget of $5,678,170. Employee salaries comprise nearly half the budget at $2,795,814, but increased less than 1.5 percent in the new plan. The proposed budget allows for an upgrade of technology equipment.

“Most of the (budget) increase was a result of the escalating cost of retirement,” said Library Director Susan De Sciora.

Employee benefits rose $179,612 to $2,795,814 in the new budget compared to $2,756,457 in the current plan.

Ben Eilbott, the library president, said the trustee vote to adopt the proposed budget was 3-2. “Since the county’s sewer tax hasn’t been passed yet, three out of the five (board members) said let the budget sit as is, while two members said we should plan for it,” Eilbott said.

Nassau County’s proposed sewer tax would charge one penny per gallon of water that enters the county’s sewage system and cost the library about $9,300 annually if it goes into effect, De Sciora said.

Zaret, a Woodmere resident, has served half of the 5-year term. He replaced a trustee who had moved out of the district. As president of Friends of the Library, Zaret frequently sat in on trustee meetings.

“I like to get involved with things, people and the community,” he said about why he is running for the position he has become comfortable in.

Zaret said it’s important for residents to come out and vote. “Whether they like the library or not, they should express their opinion,” he said. “If people vote no (for the budget), we want to know what we’re doing wrong and if they come out and vote yes, we may be doing something right. People should come in and tell us what they like or don’t like; that’s the only way we can improve.”

Eilbott echoed Zaret’s thinking regarding the importance of voting. “It’s a disgrace that more people don’t vote,” he said. “It can only be interpreted that they are so usually satisfied they don’t need to come out or are so dissatisfied that they don’t think their vote will matter.”

Both trustees think their facility is a victim of its own success as the programs it presents attracts so many visitors that the not-enough-parking-problem may never be resolved. “We wish we could improve our parking,” Zaret said. “People want to come and the biggest complaint we get is parking. Before in our old library we had 19 spaces and now we have 52, but it’s still not enough.”

An eligible voter must be 18 or older by April 5, a legal resident of the library district for at least 30 days before the vote and a U.S. citizen. Voting is in the library’s Boehm Meeting Room from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.