The Hampton Library 2013 budget passed overwhelmingly on Saturday, 56-7.
Bridgehampton School District residents voted 35-5 in favor of the budget, and Sagaponack School District resident voted 21-2.
The budget includes a tax levy of $1,499,300, a 1.2 percent increase.
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A $17,900 increase in operating expenses is attributed to increased spending on library materials — books, audiobooks, videos, etc. — programs, and building and grounds operations. However, most of those spending increases are offset by $30,900 in anticipated savings on payroll and employee benefits.
"The director, Kelly Harris, and trustees of the Hampton Library would like to thank everyone who came to vote and for supporting the library," reads a statement from the library.
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For a home assessed at $1 million, taxes are slated to rise from $149.40 to $151.21, a difference of $1.81.
The budget includes a $560,000 debt payment for the recent renovation of the library. Hampton Library notes that the debt is anticipated to be paid off by 2016, rather than the original expected date of 2030, thanks to fundraising efforts.
Harvey Loomis ran uncontested for a designated trustee seat for Sagaponack School District residents, and was elected unanimously to a three-year term. He replaces Lee Foster, who reached the term limit.
Loomis is a 1953 Yale graduate and a U.S. Navy veteran. He spent 20 years as Time Incorporated, initially working as a reporter for Life Magazine, then as a writer and editor at Time-Life books. After Time, he was a freelancer nonfiction editor for 25 years. he has been a Sagaponack resident and Hampton Library patron since 1982. His wife, Linda Bird Francke, is a local author who has been featured several times in the library's "Fridays at Five" lecture series.
