Voters expressed confidence in the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Tuesday with the approval of a budget that stayed within the state tax cap and the re-election of Joseph Furnari for another term as trustee.
Trustee challenger Ken Olivo conceded shortly after the results were announced and wished his opponent well. He received 357 votes to the incumbent’s 494. Furnari’s vote total mirrored the “yes” votes on the budget while there were 392 in opposition leaving a number of negative voters not casting a ballot for trustee.
“I’d like to thank the community for their support and confidence in me for another term,“ Furnari said after the ballots were tallied. “Ken ran a good race. I look forward to working with him in the future.” Furnari, of Shirley, operates a local cleaning business and also serves as an aide to state Senator Dean Murray.
Olivo’s campaign focused criticism on the library’s capital projects and issues with the renovation of the main facility. But the voters shrugged it off and okayed a 1.4 percent tax hike for a $10.6 million spending plan that represents a $148,499 increase over the current budget.
Library Director Kerri Rosalia explained that the additional spending, in part, will go toward operating the new annex in Mastic Beach, which opened in January, and another in Moriches, which will have a grand opening April 15.
In thanking the community for supporting the budget, Rosalia said she looks forward to the opening of the Moriches satellite and a “very exciting year.”
“Congratulations to Joe and the library for getting the budget approved,” Olivo said. “The residents deserve these new facilities and the resources the library needs to provide first-rate services to the community.”
The library officials will have their work cut out for them as they address construction cost increases due to inflation, COVID supply chain issues, and unforeseen structural problems with the main library rebuild that have added about $3 million in expenses, money they’re looking to cover through a “value engineering” process and grants. The use of reserve funds to cover the building costs was another issue Olivo raised during the election, arguing that any unused operating expenses should be returned to the taxpayers. As the election heated up, the library said the use of reserves is not an uncommon option for such projects. The trustees pledged to not ask the voters to borrow funds on top of the $22.7 million they approved in a 2019 referendum.
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A victorious Joseph Furnari is all smiles with his wife Kelly after winning
another term as a Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library trustee.
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According to library spokesman Mark Grossman, these ballots went out only to those on the library’s list of regular absentee voters, and not those who made requests for the ballots.