East Rockaway Library responds to Pride Party accusations

The new library board is comprised of, from left, Mary Godio, secretary; Vice President Thea Sieban; President Barbara Humes, and trustees Theresa Gaffney and Craig Mollo.

Mary Malloy/Herald

East Rockaway Library offcials responded to a scathing statement released by the Village Pride Party recently.

Courtesy Nassau County Library System

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In response to a statement released to the press by the East Rockaway Pride Party questioning the East Rockaway Library’s spending practices — a release that quotes Mayor Francis T. Lenahan, Deputy Mayor Bruno Romano and Village Trustee and library liaison Richard Gogarty, and credits 10-month library trustee Theresa Gaffney as uncovering “the excessive perks being paid to part-time library employees” — the East Rockaway library board has issued its own statement to the press defending its position.

In the Village Pride Party release, Lenahan said that he “vows to cut [the] gold-plated benefit package” at the village’s library, located on Atlantic Avenue in East Rockaway.

“This is a shocking abuse of village taxpayer’s money” the release quoted Lenahan, “providing part-timers with taxpayer-funded health insurance, paid sick and vacation days, and even longevity checks, is virtually unheard of at any level of government. In order to cut costs, these types of benefits should be reserved for full-time employees only.”

“The East Rockaway Library board is well aware of its fudiciary responsibility to the taxpayers of East Rockaway,” the library’s response read. “We have always been dilligent in our effort to keep our operational costs down, while providing quality library services for our residents. In the last two fiscal years, we have returned to the village general fund $52,000 – monies which could have been sent to the library’s reserve fund for future library expenditures, but was instead returned to the general fund in the interest of all village financial needs.”

The library is part of the Nassau County public library system and is a corporate entity chartered by the NY State of Regents. As per state education law, they are not a department of the village, although its trustees are appointed by the village board.