Merokeans to vote on library budget, trustee April 16

If passed in a public vote on Tuesday, April 16, the Merrick Library's proposed budget would increase total spending by a little more than $113,000 to roughly $3.39 million, and the property-tax levy would rise by 3.45 percent, according to library officials. The tentative spending plan would slightly increase spending on materials, services and building maintenance.

The library's fiscal year begins on July 1. The budget proposal increases funding for personnel, books, magazines, databases, computers, Nassau Library System cooperative services and debt service. It decreases spending on administrative operations, videos and DVDs, books on tape and CDs, programming, printing, and inter-library loans.

The proposed 2013-14 tax levy is slightly less than the maximum amount that the library could have asked voters to approve under the state’s property-tax levy cap. The cap, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed in 2011, restricts municipalities from raising their property-tax levies by more than 2 percent from one year to the next. The library's tax-levy increase is due primarily to population growth, so it can exceed the cap, according to the law.

Library Board Trustee Susan Dillon is running for reelection unopposed. Dillon, a Brooklyn native, has resided in Merrick with her husband, Marty, for 46 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s from Long Island University at C.W. Post, and she has served in the past as president of the Chatterton Elementary School PTA, Merrick Avenue Middle School PTA and Merrick-North Merrick PTA Council. Dillon has worked as a teacher in a number of Long Island school districts and served as a legislative aide to Nassau County Legislator Dave Denenberg, of Merrick. She has served three terms on the Merrick Library Board of Trustees, is a past board president and is currently its secretary.