For less than it would cost you to buy a single paperback book in today’s economy, Shelter Island Library director Denise DiPaolo said that she and her staff can continue to provide and expand on materials, programs and services for another year.

Residents will be asked on Oct. 27 to approve an additional $28,886 in taxes to support the library in 2013, amounting to $6.25 per year per household to fund the proposed $614,327 budget.

The budget itself is actually up $36,636, but other revenue streams help offset what’s needed from taxpayers, Ms. DiPaolo said. In addition to the $510,327 taxpayers would contribute to next year’s spending, income is expected to come from contributions, fund raising activities, grants, fines and fees and interest income amounting to $104,000.

There’s a modest salary increase coupled with employee taxes and benefits for library staffers amounting to $9,739 more than was spent in the current year. Ms. DiPaolo has three full-time staffers and seven part-timers, she said.

Utilities, telecommunications and building maintenance are up by $1,799. And there are small increases to other parts of the 2013 budget proposal.

“We budget to the penny,” Ms. DiPaolo said in a Thursday morning interview. “You’ve got to be creative,” she said about both fund raising and managing to keep expenses from escalating in the difficult economy, she said.

Ms. DiPaolo will be on hand at 6 p.m. Oct. 15, for a public hearing at the library on the budget proposal and then taxpayers get their say on Oct. 27, when they get to cast their ballots at the library between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

For a full story on the budget proposal, see the Oct. 4 Reporter.

jlane@timesreview.com