Voters served by the Northern Onondaga Public Library system (NOPL) will be asked to approve a nominal tax increase for the library next week.
NOPL’s 2016 budget calls for a 1.56 percent tax increase, or $1.04 on a $100,000 home, according to NOPL Executive Director Kate McCaffrey. The $2,405,783 budget represents a slight increase over the 2015 budget of $2,368,829, which McCaffrey said will allow the library to continue to improve its offerings to the community.
“We continue to improve our services and collections, including popular digital collections of e-books, audiobooks and downloadable music,” McCaffrey said in a release. “Our costs have increased in some areas we have no control over, and as our buildings age, we’re addressing small problems before they become big problems.”
NOPL’s libraries celebrated their 20th anniversary last week. The system has more than 113,720 books, magazines, DVD’s, music CD’s, computer games and audiobooks in its collections and offers more than 1,000 programs a year , including history lectures, book clubs, knitting groups, concerts and the acclaimed LibraryFarm.
The vote will take place from noon to 7 p.m. at each of the NOPL branches. Voters should go to the library in their district to vote. NOPL @ Brewerton is located at 5437 Library St., Brewerton; NOPL @ Cicero is located at 8686 Knowledge Lane, Cicero; and NOPL @ North Syracuse is located at 100 Trolley Barn Lane, North Syracuse. If you’re not sure which library at which you should vote, each library has a large map on display detailing the voting districts, or staff members are able to help. Absentee ballots are also available.
