Riverhead Free, NSPL and Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library budgets pass
Riverhead Free Library, North Shore Public Library and Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library’s annual budgets all passed April 8. Here is the breakdown of how voters let their voices be heard.
The total budget tax levy for the 2025-26 budget year was $5,200,000. The proposed tax levy pierced the state cap by $201,667. The overall operating cost for the budget year is $5,537,500.
$138,000 of the budget will fund capital improvement projects, including Browsing Room renovations and a new coffee bar.
The budget passed with 200 votes in favor and 193 votes against.
The average home in the Riverhead Central School District, assessed at $47,075, will pay roughly $308.25 in taxes toward the new budget. This amounts to an estimated $17.15 more in taxes for the average homeowner over last year.
A new $10,000 budget line was also created for a “library of things” in Riverhead this year. It will allow Riverhead Free Library to build a collection of equipment and gadgets like musical instruments, backyard games, hand tools and fishing poles that patrons will be able to borrow with their library card.
Three seats were filled on the library’s Board of Trustees. Incumbents Carlos Alvarez and incumbent William Sandback retained their seats, and newcomer Mike Dubois, a former trustee for the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library, was elected to the board.
North Shore Public Library’s proposed 2025-26 budget tax levy was $3,780,690. The overall proposed operating budget was $4,016,008.
The budget passed with 117 votes in favor and 33 votes against.
Board of Trustees president William Schiavo retained his seat for another five years, having run unopposed for the board.
Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library
The library’s proposed tax levy was $1,984,814. The overall 2025-26 budget, which includes revenue from other funding streams like donations, fundraising and state grants, is $2,049,157.
No capital projects were included in the budget. There were no open positions on the library’s board of trustees.
The budget passed with 121 votes in favor and 12 votes against.
