$219K library budget goes to voters Sept. 7

A proposed 2018 budget of $219,504 for the West Hurley Public Library will go before library district voters on Sept. 7.

The spending plan is 2.8 percent larger than the library’s current budget and has a property tax levy of $211,354, up 2.9 percent from this year.

Voting will be 4-8 p.m. in the library at 42 Clover St.

Library board President Norman Bowie said Wednesday that most of the budget increase is tied to raises for part-time employees under the state’s new minimum wage.

Salaries account for $99,932 of the proposed budget, an increase of 5.3 percent from the 2017 level.

The 2018 budget also includes $30,103 for employee benefits, up 1.9 percent; $14,500 for books, unchanged; $24,770 for building expenses, down 0.9 percent; and $30,740 for operations, up 1.6 percent.

Library Director Kara Lustiber said there has been a subtle shift away from ebooks and toward hard copy at the library but that requests for ebooks still “are through he roof.”

“We’re finding, both scientifically and just through experience at the desk, that a lot of people are going back and choosing the print book over the ebook in a lot of cases,” Lustiber said. “The one study I read was that a print book actually appeals to all of your senses. You’re holding it, you’re smelling it, you’re looking at it. So you actually become more involved in the story that way.”

Voters on Sept. 7 also will elect library board members. Five seats are available, but only four candidates are running: Patricia Heinitz, Robert Hoffman, Howard Keene and Roseann Walz, all of whom are incumbents.

The top three vote-getters will serve three-year terms; the fourth-place finisher will serve for two years.