Voters weren’t disturbed by a budget that was over the tax levy cap. They approved the library’s spending plan on April 8 by almost a four-to-one margin. The final count was 363 in favor and 100 opposed.
While the tax levy for the library will increase by 4.69 percent, that won’t amount to much in dollars. For most homeowners, the difference will be $10 a year or less.
In crafting the budget, the trustees allowed for changes in customer requests. Board president Susanne Vondrak described the trend in an interview last month. “We’ve seen a 20 percent increase in request for e-books alone…,” she said. “So we factored in some funding for purchases of things like e-books and capital equipment such as laptops and iPads.”
Besides saying “yes” or “no” on the budget, voters got to choose two trustees out of a field of five. Christine McDonald (a former board president) and Carol Stein (a business official for a large school district) were the successful candidates. The final tally was Christine McDonald 260, Carol Stein 231, Barbara Gosda 159, Jan Smith 131, Richard Bandura 82.
The turnout for the vote and the support for the budget followed the trend of recent years.
Year Votes Yes (%)
2014 463 78.4
2013 464 83.0
2012 508 82.5
2011 481 75.3
2010 531 79.5
2009 436 79.6
The voting took place in the library’s Community Room. The trustees who waited for the tallies were pleased with the results. The library had placed bright yellow signs around town to remind people of the election.