Nearly 80 percent of Thursday’s voters approved the requested tax levy for the 2022-23 Richmond Memorial Library budget, Director Bob Conrad says.
A tax levy increase of $21,865 — the first such increase in three years — fell under the allowable tax cap at a 1.6 percent increase, he said. Voters approved the proposition for the Batavia Board of Education to increase the annual appropriation from $1,359,604 to $l,381,469 to benefit the library.
“I am pleased to announce that the Richmond Memorial Library's proposed 2022-23 tax levy increase passed with 79.9% of the vote today,” Conrad said in an email Thursday evening. “An increase of up to $61,947 would have been allowed under NY's Tax Cap legislation, but an increase of only $21,865 was sought.”
In his written message to library patrons before the vote, Board President Gregg McAllister said that several initiatives contributed to the “slight increase,” including an expanded team of professional librarians and a new full-time teen librarian, increased hours for a library assistant who focuses on the middle school population, and expanding hours in the Library Visits program.
“We hope to see you at the library to check out the programs or various resources available to our community, or use our online materials or other forms of technology,” McAllister said in the library newsletter. “”We believe the Richmond Memorial Library is a gem for our city and worthy of its reputation as a source of information and assistance, a true community hub.”
Rebecca McGee, who ran unopposed, was elected to a second term on the board of trustees.
Library tidbits …
As of June 2021, there were:
- 18,722 active library cardholders
- 316 programs
- 17,523 reference questions answered
- 104 meeting room reservations by outside groups
- 327 people enrolled in the Summer Reading Program
Who was the most popular author for years 2020 and 2021? James Patterson, and a comparison to others was apparently “not even close.”
