Voters to decide bond fate
DELMAR – To renovate or not to renovate that is the question.
On Thursday, Dec. 12, Bethlehem Public Library district voters will decide whether to nix the nearly $34 million bond referendum that would underwrite the Library’s proposed almost $37 million renovation project. The Library’s general fund will cover the remaining $3 million cost.
According to Library Public Information Specialist Kristen Roberts, in this past week the Library spent $3,508.83 to print and mail its special bond project mailer to Library district residents. The intent was to get project details out before the vote.
Over the last few months, communications from the Library said the $36.9 million renovation will update the 50-year-old building’s aging components, add in-demand space, and enhance accessibility and environmental sustainability.” Sixty percent of the cost covers “needed renovations,” according to the newsletter. Forty percent of the cost is driven by space re-alignment, including additional and expanded meeting areas, children and teen spaces, a geothermal heating/cooling system, 19 new parking spaces, a curbside pickup loop, and moving the library’s main entrance to the current garage space.
In an open letter, Library Executive Director Geoffrey Kirkpatrick said, while the Library recognizes the project’s large scope, he called it a “once-in-50-years ask” that responds to community input.
The debt service on the proposed bond is approximately $2 million annually for 25 years. Recently, the Library announced the library tax rate would increase by 65 cents, from $1.40 to $2.05 per $1,000 of as property value to annually pay for the bond’s debt service. A district home assessed at $200,000 would feel a tax increase of $130 per year.
Here’s what each side has to say:
Bond referendum supporters
Bond boosters say the money will pay for necessary repairs, including replacing the 30-year-old boiler, reinforcing the foundation, and updating security and fire prevention systems.
They say the parking lot redesign will fix accessibility and foot traffic concerns.
As for new features, they claim there is demand for expanded children’s space and programming, a teen space for study and group projects, general meeting and study rooms, and expanded outdoor programming.
Some see the expanded number and size of meeting rooms as meeting a demand for community space not available elsewhere in Bethlehem. They also believe the library must lead on sustainability and environmental impact.
In a letter to the editor, Adrienne Mazeau, stressed that about 60% of the bond will fund necessary repair and maintenance to existing infrastructure. Combined with the new build projects, they are “needed investments in the future of our community,” she wrote.
Bond referendum opponents
Bond referendum critics chiefly oppose the cost. At October’s board meeting, town resident Anne Moore cited a cost comparison for library construction in surrounding areas. According to Moore, Guilderland’s library was renovated in 2021 for $8 million, the Cambridge library in 2024 for $736,000 and Woodstock’s library for $3 million in 2021.
Moore also cited the wholesale construction of Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library in 2004 for $15 million, which she claimed equates to $25 million 2024 dollars. According to an article appearing in The Saratogian, the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library cost $14 million to construct a 55,000 square foot two story building and $600,000 to buy the 10.2 acre site.
Terrance Rooney, another Town resident and retired from working at the New York State Department of Transportation Contract Management Bureau, questioned the library’s failure to seek more than two project bids versus, calling three “normal.” He questioned why the Library rejected the lowest bid – $17 million bid from Butler Rowland Mays and accepted a $37 million bid from Ashley McGraw, more than doubling the cost.
Rooney pointed out that Bethlehem’s renovation cost per square foot is $803.54. By contrast, he said that based on data he reviewed from 24 new library building construction projects, the average 2024 cost per square foot was $492. Based on that data, he said the projected 41,000 square foot renovation should not cost more than $20 plus furniture and equipment of about $1.5 million, if purchased new.
Apart from cost, bond referendum opponents have also objected that the library is not a community center and should stick to its function as a library. District resident Nathan Cohen said the expansion is ‘unconscionable’ because the Town already has the resources for meeting space at the town hall and the school district, but these spaces are unused. He blamed the Town, the Library and the School District for not working together to find a solution to the meeting space issue. Instead, he said the Library board pointed to the Town claiming it did not have the janitorial space and the school district just being uncooperative. “It’s absurd for the taxpayers because the resources are available in the Town and no one is sitting down together to discuss it.” Cohen called for a public meeting of the three governing bodies to share resources.
Cohen also said the geo-thermal system being added is supposed to last 50 years, but that means the Library will not be able to take advantage of improved technology in a relatively new energy field.
Detractors also say the parking lot re-design is unnecessary because of the present minimal distance between the front door and the parking lot and have also voiced a concern that expansion will increase traffic on the surrounding streets.
Cohen, who has never voted against a Bethlehem school or Library budget, said “I will absolutely vote no. Would I vote for a much scaled down version without the geo-thremal and the meeting spaces, yes if it were reasonable.”
Residents of the Bethlehem Central School District for at least 30 days prior to the vote and who are a U.S. citizen 18 years or older may vote on December 12, 2024 at the Bethlehem Public Library between 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Absentee and early voting is available through the school district. The deadline for requesting absentee and early voting is December 4, 2024 for mailed documents and December 11, 2024 for in-person completion with the District Clerk.
Early voting begins 30 days before polls open.
