(Oneida, NY – Feb. 2014) On March 4 from noon to 9 p.m. at the library, registered voters in the Oneida Public Library Special Legislature District, which is co-extensive with the Oneida City School District, will have the opportunity to vote on the proposed budget for OPL’s upcoming fiscal year as well as for candidates running for two open seats on the Board.
The OPL Board of Trustees proposes a new operating budget of $382,110 for the library at 220 Broad St. for FY 2014-15, which runs from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015. The budget presumes a 1.66 percent increase in expenses over FY 2013-14.
Of the total projected revenue, the OPL Board proposes a property tax levy of $334,110. This shows an increase of $7,238 over the current levy, a 2.21 percent increase in line with the N.Y.S. Tax Cap Law.
Operating expenses for the current library facility at 220 Broad St. in the coming fiscal year are predicted to rise in the personnel budget because of state-mandated increases in the minimum wage, workers compensation and disability insurance and well as in the building maintenance budget because of rising costs in repairs for equipment and service contracts.
Two candidates are in the running for the two OPL Board seats that will open up this coming July 1. George Richard “Rick” Kinsella, Jr., is the sole candidate for a full term of five years for the seat now held by Jim Bacher. James Dieso is running for a one-year term to fill out the term of Eileen Kinsella, who has retired from the board.
Rick Kinsella, who lives on Main Street in Oneida with his wife Dawn Krupiarz and family, has retired after working for over 40 years in a variety of government and not-for-profit agencies serving people and families with alcohol and drug problems. He has also served on managing boards of not-for-profit organizations such as the Madison County Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (Bridges), Madison County Mental Health and Community Services and the Oneida chapter of the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO).
“I recently retired and look forward to bringing my skills and experience to the library’s Board of Trustees,” Kinsella said. “If elected, I will work hard to make sure that the OPL continues to offer interesting and valuable programs and services to a broad spectrum of our community while remaining fiscally responsible and secure.”
Jim Dieso began his professional career as an elementary school teacher in Canastota in 1977. Soon after, he married his wife Debbie and settled in Oneida to raise a family. Both husband and wife were founding members of the Oneida AYSO Board in 1991.
After losing his teaching position in 1983 due to declining enrollment, Dieso started up a career in computers, both in sales and as a corporate technology trainer. In 1993, he returned to education as the technology planner for 55 school districts with the Mohawk Regional Information Center at Madison-Oneida BOCES. In 1996, he became the first director of information technology for the New Hartford School District, retiring from that position in 2012.
“Debbie and I have always felt grateful for the programs that the Oneida Library provided when our children were young and we were new to the area,” Dieso said. “Not only was the library a source of learning and fun for our children, but it served as a place where they met many of their first friends in the community.”
With the OPL’s ongoing New Library Project, Dieso believes that his experience in technology will help the board plan for a 21st-century library with “free access to various media resources, services, training and support that are of critical importance to a vibrant community’s public library.”
The OPL’s budget and trustee vote will be held in the library’s Meeting Room, 220 Broad St., from 12 noon until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4.