Southold, Greenport and Orient voters will have the chance to vote on the Southold Free Library and Floyd Memorial Library budgets May 19 alongside school budget votes.
Southold Free Library’s proposed 2026-27 tax levy is $1,285,603 — a $48,731 increase from the current budget. The library’s total operating budget for 2026-27 is $1,316,275.
“The library offers a large number of varied services to the community and this will allow services to continue to thrive while addressing cost increases in categories that include health insurance and other insurance coverages, fuel, etc.,” library director Caroline MacArthur told The Suffolk Times.
Shared services with neighboring libraries, the Suffolk Cooperative Library System and other organizations have helped the library keep costs manageable without reducing services.
Personnel costs rose $52,721, while operations, maintenance, library material and office expense costs remained largely flat compared with the current budget.
“It was a very hard year to stay within the tax cap, but with allowable as per NYS, I feel that the Library can continue to offer superior services even with rising costs,” Ms. MacArthur noted.
Residents can cast their votes May 19 at Southold High School, between 3 and 9 p.m. The budget will appear as a separate proposition alongside the district’s budget.
Floyd Memorial Library, serving East Marion, Orient and Greenport communities, proposed a $1,268,590 budget for 2026-27, a 3.52% increase, or $44,675 more than the current budget.
The proposed tax levy is $639,492 for Greenport School District residents and $567,098 for residents of the Oysterponds School District.
Personnel costs and general operating expenses for the library saw the largest increase, rising about $46,000 and $17,000, respectively.
Source: The Suffolk Times
