VOORHEESVILLE — On May 18, voters will be asked to make a decision about which of the two candidates for Voorheesville Public Library Trustee they’d like to see take the place of board President Bryan Richmond, who is stepping down after two terms. 
But the other thing voters are used to seeing, the one thing that typically draws a number of voters to the polls in local elections, won’t appear on their ballot come Tuesday after next — and it appears to be common.

In her Enterprise library column, Lynn Kohler writes that the Voorheesville Public Library’s $1.2 million budget for next year — which is down from $1.35 million this year — was developed without increasing property taxes and was approved by the board of trustees at its March 6 meeting. 

“For this reason, Kohler writes, “a public vote on the budget is not required and will not appear on the 2021 ballot.” 

The library’s budget is under the state-set tax levy limit by $54,868, she wrote.

It’s estimated that the tax rates of the property owners served by the library in the towns of New Scotland, Guilderland, Berne will remain unchanged for next year. Currently, New Scotland residents have a tax rate of $1.23 per $1,000 of assessed value; in Guilderland, it’s $1.12 per $1,000; and in Berne, residents have a tax rate of $2.08 per $1,000 of assessed value of their home, according to the library. ​

The largest losses of revenue in next year’s budget were approximately $68,000 in state aid and close to $80,000 from the library’s own capital account, they were offset on the expenditure side of the ledger with $148,000 in allocated  capital projects coming off this year’s books.

At least three times in the past decade — fiscal years 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 — the library proposed flat budgets under the cap with no estimated tax increases that went to votes. And in those years, budgets were under the state-set levy limit by $30,656; $34,509; and $11,727, respectively.

Library Director Sarah Clark told The Enterprise that the board of trustees unanimously approved the budget, but no vote was taken about keeping it off the May 18 ballot.

On taking next year’s budget off the ballot, Clark said that trustees discussed it and came to the conclusion that, even if residents voted down the proposed 2021-22 spending plan, in a way, the outcome of the vote would have no bearing on next year’s budget. And in Voorheesville, this year’s tax levy alone — which is also next year’s levy —  $1.174 million, is nearly enough to cover the 2021-22 budget of $1.2 million.

New York State Education Law says that, even if a vote is defeated, the appropriation would revert back to the levy amount last approved by residents, because the allotment is “considered an annual appropriation until changed by further vote” 

Clark said she proposed the idea of next year’s spending plan not going to a public vote. 

“If there was no tax levy increase, there was no public vote,” she said.

State Education Law states that an annual budget vote for libraries  isn’t required because once the spending plan has been approved by residents, it’s “considered an annual appropriation until changed by further vote.”

And this will likely be the new normal, Clark said, if there’s no tax increase, the budget won’t be put out to a vote, but if an increase in the levy is needed, property owners will be asked to increase their taxes. 

Clark worked in the Albany Public Library system for 13 years before becoming Vooheesville’s library director in 2018. 

Like Voorheesville, Albany’s public library is chartered as a school district library. There are four types of libraries in New York State — association, municipal, school district, and special district. 

Albany’s charter was changed in 2002 from an association library to a school district. An association library “is established by a group of private individuals to serve ‘all the people in the community in which the library is located,’ according to state Education Law, “whereas a ‘public’ library is established by a village, town, city, county, school district, or special state legislation”. 

Three of Albany’s past five budgets did not include a tax hike, which meant no public vote was needed — but the two budgets that were voted on were overwhelmingly approved.

The state categorizes its libraries as either “public” or “association.” An association library is a public library that is created by a membership association, “operating under a will or deed of trust,” according to the New York State Library, in contrast to the three other types of libraries, which need public or legislative approval in order to establish a charter.

There were 410 public and 346 association libraries in the state, as of the end of 2020. The Altamont Free Library is an example of an association library. It receives the bulk of its funding from the municipalities it serves. 

Between 2006 and 2014, the median number of public libraries in the state was approximately 401, but the number of libraries reporting having held a budget vote in a given year was just 194, less than half — although those numbers did increase significantly in the final two years of the data collected by New York State Library, to 248 in 2013 and 261 in 2014. 

Residents who live in the Voorheesville Central School District are eligible to vote for library trustee on May 18. Also on that day, the school district will be holding its annual budget vote and residents will be asked to approve a $27 million spending plan for the 2021-22 school year. The two school board trustees up for re-election are running unopposed. Residents who wish to vote-by-mail should request a ballot from the district office by May 11. They must be returned by 5 p.m., on May 18.

Library trustees

After two consecutive five-year terms on the board of trustees, President Bryan Richmond is, according to the library's bylaws, unable to run for a third term. Richmond unsuccessfully ran for the Voorheesville School Board last year, placing fourth out of four candidates and garnering only half as many votes as the third-place finisher. 

Looking to replace Richmond are relatively-new comers to the village: Azam Khan and Marielle McKasty-Stagg.

Each candidate was asked about their background and what useful experience they would bring to the library board, as well as these questions:

— Why are you running?

— What do you hope to accomplish?

— What’s your favorite book?

— The library is currently working on its strategic plan, what would be your priorities to help the library grow over the next three years? 

Click here to read their profiles.