BELCHERTOWN - Voters passed a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion ballot to expand and renovate the Clapp Memorial Library by a wide margin Tuesday.

The vote was 4,445 in favor and 2,953 against to raise taxes about $95 a year for the average household to pay the town's estimated $5 million share of the $10.6 million project.

The next step, said Stephen Lanphear, chairman of the library's Board of Trustees, will be to seek an appropriation from a special Town Meeting, which he expects to occur in a few months.

"This is clearly a great first step," Lanphear said. "We're pretty pleased that Question 4 passed. We're very appreciative of all the support we're received from the people of Belchertown."

The trustees will continue their private fund-raising efforts. They hope to raise $2.3 million from donors that would be added to a $3.3 million state grant that has already been approved.

The expansion project would triple the size of the 1887 library to about 29,000 square feet.