On Wednesday, April 3, the Bayport-Blue Point community voted to pass the 2024-2025 library budget with 263 yes votes and 113 no votes.

Trustee Jason Borowski was elected to a full five-year term and ran unopposed.

Library director Mike Firestone said the results of the vote could allow the library to “move forward” with plans on infrastructure and maintenance.

With an increase of 12 percent, this year’s budget was the steepest increase in over a decade.

Community members expressed their concern on social media after hearing that the double-digit increase was due in part to a significant increase in utility bills, namely the $8,000 to $10,000 monthly estimate on the electric bill.

A separate article will be coming forth from Suffolk County News investigating the increase from roughly $500 to the $8,000 to $10,000.

This increased budget also includes a back payment of $86,000 due to PSEG undercharging that is being paid in $1,500 installments with no interest.

“We thought the solar panels were just magical in cutting our rates,” said library director, Mike Firestone. “The rate we were paying here was lower than the much smaller previous building the library was in.”

In addition, warranties for other utilities have started to expire and new contracts will need to be made for the HVAC and septic units, both of which are typically three-year contracts.

Operations (+$94,258, approximately 53 percent increase) and facilities (+$116,140, approximately 9.3 percent increase) were calculated based on these developments.

The additional expenditures were added to budgets for salaries (+$107,888, approximately 7.6 percent increase, based on three percent inflation adjustment increases), employee benefits (+$78,812, approximately 13.4 percent increase), the latter of which involved costs to health insurance and pension/retirement accounts that were mandated by the state.

There are currently eight full-time employees and part-time employees have increased due to library usage necessitating coverage of different sections (e.g., the children, teen, and adult library sections each need library staff servicing patrons during busy evening and weekend hours).

In 2023, the Bayport-Blue Point Library had 128,485 patrons and over 4,500 room bookings.

“It’s absolutely packed and busy every night of the week,” said Firestone. “It’s all different age groups.”

Firestone has said the library is constantly looking for grants or other streams of revenue, as Bayport-Blue Point’s perceived affluent demographics often leave them uncompetitive for government programs. The library’s current state aid for the last 11 years has been between $3,200 and $4,100.

The old library building on Blue Point Avenue may possibly have a buyer and proceeds from the sale would recoup expenses.