Hillside Public Library Explains Tax Cap's Repercussions

Members of the board and library Director Charlene Noll discussed at Thursday’s board meeting what they learned about the two percent tax cap at a recent Nassau Library system event.

Board member Kathleen Seyfried, who also serves on the NLS board, explained that there are four different types of libraries and the cap affects each of them differently. In the Hillside Public Library’s case, to go above the two percent cap, three out of five board members have to agree to this and then the budget would have to be approved by more than 50 percent of the voters.

“Almost everyone will have to vote to go over [the two percent tax cap] because of health insurance and pension costs,” Maura Rossi said.

Seyfried added that even if there is a clerical error that states a library has gone over the cap, there could have repercussions. Therefore, to “protect themselves from lawsuits”, Seyfried said many libraries and municipalities will vote to raise the cap.