Two Port communities pass library budgets

Two Port communities pass library budgets

Above, Chris McCrary is running for a spot on the Comsewogue library board. His opponent, Richard Evans, did not provide a photo to the library. File photo

Local voters approved their libraries’ budgets on Tuesday night and elected a new community member to serve on one district’s board of trustees.

Comsewogue Public Library residents elected Chris McCrary to their board with 116 votes, as compared to challenger Richard Evans’ 45 votes, Library Director Debbie Engelhardt said in an email. Both men had been vying for the seat of library board President Ali Gordon, who declined to run for re-election.

Gordon is also a member of the Comsewogue Board of Education.

With his win, McCrary, a 49-year-old high school biology teacher and neighborhood soccer and lacrosse coach, will join the board in July for a five-year term.

Related: Library budgets going down, trustee race heating up

Comsewogue voters also passed the library’s $5.4 million budget, 149-25. That 2016-17 budget will raise taxes almost $0.13 for every $100 of  a home’s assessed value.

Over in Port Jefferson, voters also passed their own budget, 110-10, according to a message posted on the Port Jefferson Free Library’s website.

That $4.2 million spending plan will roughly keep taxes flat for library district residents.