Will they renew with Elmont?

North Valley Stream residents will vote on March 4 to determine which local library will serve them.

Since the hamlet has no library of its own, residents can vote to contract with one in the area. The current four-year contract with the Elmont Memorial Library will soon expire, and though a list of libraries for residents to choose from has not been compiled, the libraries on the ballot four years ago were Elmont, the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library in Valley Stream and the Malverne Library.

The new contract will run for five years, Town of Hempstead officials said.

According to Village Clerk Vinny Ang, Valley Stream is interested in having the Waldinger Library — which is run by the village — on the ballot. “We will definitely ask to be considered,” Ang said. “The money coming in would add to the library budget. A few years back, it allowed us to remodel the library.”

Ang was referring to library taxes collected by the Town of Hempstead. If the Waldinger Library were to be designated as the official library of North Valley Stream, residents’ tax dollars would go to the village — and to the library budget, Ang said.

According to Michael Fox, the village’s deputy treasurer, in 2006, the last time the village library contracted with North Valley Stream residents, the village received $342,000 in tax revenue collected by the town. If the village would not receive at least that amount over the upcoming year, Fox said, it would not be interested in having the library on the ballot.

North Valley Stream residents chose to switch to the Elmont Library after it opened a new facility in 2006.

Howell Road Elementary School is in North Valley Stream, and Principal Frank Huplosky said that though he cannot vote in the upcoming election, he prefers the Elmont library because its programs are second to none. “They have really done an outstanding job working with our families,” Huplosky said. “They’ve let us use the library for our graduations and our talent shows. They have definitely been good to us.”

John Brewington, co-president of the Howell Road Parent Teacher Association, said that he is familiar with other libraries and their services, but the programs the Elmont Library offers are better. “There is no comparison with the resources they have to offer,” Brewington said. “It’s hands down. It’s an awesome library.”

Since the Elmont Library is run by a board of trustees and not a village, library officials have already begun campaigning at community centers and schools to continue to be the designated library for North Valley Stream. Board President Tania Lawes said that the trustees ask residents what programs and services they would like to have at their library. “We keep our doors open and listen to what the patrons want,” Lawes said. “When people ask for certain services, we try to accommodate them.”

Elmont Library Director Maggie Gough said that giving residents an option is the fairest way to provide them with library service, considering that it’s their money that helps fund the library. “They have a choice now on how they want to allocate their tax dollars,” Gough said. “Some like ours ... for their money that goes into taxes, they are getting a tremendous benefit.”