On Thursday, Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. in the community room of the Kingston Library at 55 Franklin St., Kingston Library will hold a public forum on its Sept. 21 budget vote and trustee election. At the forum, the library's operations, long-range plan, proposed 2022 tax appropriation and overall 2022 budget will be reviewed.

Next month, voters will be electing three trustees to the 9-member Kingston Library Board of trustees. The candidates running for those seats will be invited to the public forum to introduce themselves and discuss their candidacy.

The Sept. 21 library election will be held from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Kingston Library, the sole polling place for voting. Absentee ballots will be sent to shut-ins in the City of Kingston or can be requested by contacting the library directly at (845) 331-0507. Absentee ballots must be returned to the library by 5 p.m. Sept. 21. All registered voters living in the City of Kingston are eligible to vote.

The library is seeking approval of a tax appropriation of $976,024 to support the operation of Kingston Library in 2022 The request is a 6 percent increase over 2021’s appropriation of $916,455, a total increase of $59,569. There was no rise in the 2021 budget from the 2020 budget.

According to the library: “Significant shifts in spending were made in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic to make services more accessible for patrons looking for remote access and digital resources. In addition, care was taken to manage staffing to support increased online services and programs and reduced in-person building hours. With the library fully open to in-person services again, and the resumption of in-person programs for all ages, staffing will be increased in 2022 while also maintaining support for the additional online services that were developed during the pandemic.”

For further information about the library election, call Margie Menard at (845) 339-4260, ext. 14