Baldwin Public Library director outlines budget increase tied to bond debt service

Elizabeth Olash, director of the Baldwin Public Library, told the Board of Education meeting that the library’s proposed 2025–26 budget will require piercing the tax-cap because it must include bond debt service approved by voters in 2023. "The referendum was voted on by the community in 2023, and it passed by a 3 to 1 margin," Olash said, and the principal and interest from that bond must be included in the annual library tax levy.

Olash said the library’s total budget is "a little over $6,000,000" and that the increase shown on the levy — 28.94% — is driven mostly by debt service. She told the board that debt service makes up roughly 16% of the library’s budget and will remain in the levy for the next 15 years. "When you exclude the debt service, the increase is 355,973," she said, adding that that amount still exceeds the tax-cap and represents a 7.58% rise for non-debt items.

The director described program and space changes funded by the bond, including a gutted upper floor now being framed for a much larger teen room, multiple small study rooms, a community room that can be split, a recording studio, a makerspace and a gaming room. Olash said the library board has budgeted additional staffing to operate the large second floor once it opens. "We have to include the debt service on the bond, that is the principal and the interest, in the library's budget," she said.

Olash provided context on local funding levels: the library ranks 30th of 54 public libraries in Nassau County for per-capita support, she said, with a Baldwin per-capita library tax just under $129 compared with a Nassau County average of about $141. She estimated the average household library tax in Baldwin is approximately $400 and that the proposed change will increase household costs by about $120 a year.

Olash also emphasized services the library provides, including subscription databases and in-person media-literacy help, a seed-lending program, a "library of things" for borrowing tools and equipment, museum passes and expanded meeting-room capacity. She said the board expects the second floor to open during the coming fiscal year and that the upstairs area might be available to the public before completion of all phased work on lower floors.

Discussion at the meeting included a procedural question about voting thresholds for library actions. In response to a question from an audience member about whether a supermajority is required, Olash said the library board’s resolution that implements the levy requires a 60% approval threshold for certain library board resolutions.

No district vote was taken on the library budget at the meeting; the director reminded attendees that the library budget is a separate proposition on the May 20 ballot and that absentee and early mail ballots have deadlines posted on the district website.