By Nicole Falco
On Sept. 12, Mill Brook residents voted 457 in favor and 40 opposed, a margin of more than 10 to one, to establish a special library district and budget. The Town of Hempstead is now authorized to enter into a three-year contract with a local library, most likely the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library, to provide full library service to the more than 4,000 residents of Mill Brook and South Valley Stream. The new district is expected to take effect on Jan. 1, 2003.
The budget approved for the special library funding district is $174,964 for the first year. Therefore, the proposed tax rate per $100 of assessed value is .857. If a resident's home was assessed at $5,500, they would pay $47.14 for one year of full library service.
Following a New York State Board of Regents ruling in 2000 that in effect prohibited the sale of library cards, residents of Mill Brook and 40,000 others like them in Nassau County, who had previously purchased library cards annually, were left without library service because they did not live in an area taxed by a local library district.
In response, Joe Eisner and Jackie Thresher of Nassau Library Systems worked in conjunction with the Mill Brook community through local activists, including Julie Olson and the Mill Brook Civic Association, to restore the community's library service. Hempstead Town Councilman James Darcy was a driving force in making sure necessary legislation was passed at the Town level as well as communicating to residents the importance of voting on Sept. 12.
"I'm very happy. I think this is something the community has wanted for many years. I think the general feeling is that the community was very happy it was being voted on and very happy that it was approved," Darcy said.
At the state level, Senator Dean Skelos and Assemblyman Hervey Weisenberg introduced the necessary legislation enabling the Sept. 12 vote in their respective houses.
Residents of North Valley Stream, who are also unserved by a library district, are expected to have the opportunity to vote for their own special library district and budget by fall 2003.
