By Kate McCaffrey

NOPL Director

On Oct. 11, Northern Onondaga Public Library (NOPL) taxpayers will have the opportunity to vote on the 2018 library budget and to vote for library trustee candidates.

The tax request for 2018 is $2,473,855 and includes a very small increase of 1.25 percent.

In 2018, a family living in a $100,000 home in the NOPL district will see their annual library tax go up by approximately 85 cents, to $69.09.

The modest increase will help support significant projects for the libraries:

• • NOPL is partway through a two-year project to replace all three original roofs. Seventy-five percent of the cost will come from grant funding.
• • The North Syracuse Library, one of the busiest libraries in the county, will see changes to reduce energy costs and to improve efficiency in delivery and circulation. Seventy-five percent of the cost will come from grant funding.

At the end of 2017 the Board of Trustees will pay off the mortgage on the three properties. By doing this eight months early, NOPL will save proximately $10,000 in interest. The early payoff will allow NOPL to recoup a portion of fund balance used in prior years.

NOPL branches are open a total of 176 hours per week, and the mobile Pop-Up Library and Mini Lending Library at the YMCA make books available in more locations and during hours when the libraries are closed. Last year 692,373 books, magazines, DVD’s, music CD’s, computer games and audiobooks were checked out or downloaded. A total of 20,640 people attended 1,417 library programs, and librarians answered 16,400 reference questions. 

NOPL’s Summer Reading Program helps students maintain reading skills and enriches their lives and their vocabularies. This year 4,359 kids and parents attended 202 programs, and 651 children and teens read 10,245 books. Learning and play events for children go on all year through storyhours, craft programs, Lego Club, Spark! programs in the Discovery Den, Nature Camp and special events. In 2018 there will be coding classes for children and adults

Libraries aren’t just for kids. Adults come for many reasons — to work on resumes and job applications, get help with mobile devices, attend lectures and discussions, take a yoga class, listen to a concert, join a book club or a knitting group or to grow vegetables in the nationally known LibraryFarm. Many come to take advantage of free, high-speed internet access and mobile printing. The Brewerton Library’s Preservation Studio provides digitization technology to convert VHS tapes to DVD and save photos, negatives and slides as digital copies.

The vote will take place from noon to 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at each of the NOPL branches. Voters must go to the library in their district to vote. Each library has a large map on display to help district residents determine their voting location, and staff members are available to help. A PDF of the map can be found at nopl.org/budgetvote. Absentee ballots are also available.

NOPL at Brewerton is located at 5437 Library St., Brewerton; NOPL at Cicero is located at 8686 Knowledge Lane, Cicero; and NOPL at North Syracuse is located at 100 Trolley Barn Lane, North Syracuse.