Guilderland voters soundly turned down a plan to add a new $12.9 million expansion onto the library.
A referendum to bond the entire cost of the project was put to a vote on Tuesday, June 26. The plan was voted down 3,428 to 1,191.
`Well, we are disappointed,` said Doug Morrissey, president of the library’s Board of Trustees. `We were hoping (residents) would follow the facts rather than the campaign of fear that has been spreading around town over the past few days, but we’ll abide by the vote.`
Library officials said the expansion was needed because the current building is aging and the community has grown since the facility was built in 1992. Library Director Barbara Randall had also said some wait lists to use library space are so long people at times are waiting months for a room.
The project would have expanded the building to 47,660 square feet. The plan was to provide more space for a larger children’s room, provide a larger reading room for adults, allow for more meeting and study rooms and create a center for local history and genealogy.
The plan has been in the works since 2003.
Morrissey previously said much of the preliminary research to look into the project was paid for through grants. The plan was to bond the entire $12.9 million cost of the project and in the future, the library would hold fundraisers to help offset some of the costs to taxpayers.
Most homeowners within the Guilderland Library District currently pay about $1 to $1.70 per $1,000 of assessed property value. With the bond, taxpayers would have been expected to see an increase of about 28 cents per $1,000, or $55 for a $200,000 assessed home.
Matt Nelligan, chairman of the Guilderland Republican Committee, has long spoken out against the plan. He said the results show voters were paying attention.
(`Library officials) shouldn’t be building the Taj Mahal of libraries when people are struggling,` he said. `This was something that, the more people heard about it, the less they liked it.`
Former Guilderland Town Board member Mark Grimm, who was also an outspoken opponent of the expansion, also chalked up the defeat to the economic environment.
`This was not an anti-library vote. It was an anti-tax vote,` Grimm said in a statement. `This exhilarating victory proves voters really can protect their interests if they act on their own, no matter the odds.`
Nelligan said he was upset not just with the proposal, but with the amount spent by library officials in advertising and public relations.
Randall said all of the money spent on advocacy was paid for through the Guilderland Library Foundation, and was not purchased with taxpayer money.
“We have a whole list of systems breaking down, structure-wise,” she said. “We need to find a way to pay for them and it will increase our operating budget as a result. We can’t let the roof leak and we need a new boiler.”
Randall said the library could also lose the $138,000 in grant money it was awarded to move sewer lines as part of the expansion. Part of the money was slated for repaving the parking lot and changing the entrance to include a new book drop. She is looking to see if a portion of the money can be kept for the improvements.
Poll workers told library officials a record number of people showed up for the vote.
Both Morissey and Nelligan said they were happy about the high turnout.
`That is what democracy is all about, is public participation,` said Morrisey.
Nelligan said he knew the proposal would be voted down as soon as he saw how many people were at the polls.
`It shows the library should be more careful about putting out grandiose proposals in the future,` he said.
Morrisey said he is unsure if the library will put together a more scaled back version of the plan, saying it was too early to tell. Nelligan said with today’s economy, now is not the time to attempt to raise taxes at any level.
`If they were going to put out a scaled back version, they should have done that first,` he said. `I think that ship has sailed. I love the library we have now, I take my kids there all the time. There’s no need for an expansion.`
Morrisey said in the meantime, library staff will utilize the existing facility and `continue to provide the best service possible.`
