PLAINFIELD — With about $800,000 in donations and pledges toward an estimated $1 million construction cost, prospects for approval for a new Meriden Library at Town Meeting appear brighter than they did last year when a bond vote for the project was defeated.
As it is now written in article 2, voters will be asked to approve $183,000 in new taxes for one year to build a 3,700 square foot library. In addition to the private donations and pledges, $45,000 would come from a town capital reserve fund and $18,000 from the Meriden Library Replacement fund to reach the total cost of $1,046,000, the article states.
At a contentious town meeting last year, an article to bond about $500,000 for the library to add to $425,000 in donations fell short of the 67 percent approval required but did have the support of a majority. This year the article needs only a simple majority to pass.
“Without the bond issue (required), we have a better chance,” Joe Crate, a member of the Meriden Library Building Committee said Monday. “The biggest problem we ran into last year was the (property) revaluation hurt everybody. People were feeling the pinch.”
Library Director Mary King said Tuesday of the nearly $800,000 in private donations for the project there is $343,000 in cash and the rest in pledges, including an anonymous $200,000 donation pledged the day after last year’s Town Meeting.
The cost of the project has increased from last year’s $975,000 estimate.
Town Administrator Steve Halleran said if voters approve the article at Town Meeting on March 14, the Selectboard wants all of the money in a town account before a contract is signed and construction started.
“The Selectmen have made it clear. In their view nothing begins on the project until the pledged money is in the bank,” Halleran said Tuesday.
Libraries have become a contentious issue in town as of late. Some have argued that Plainfield does not need two libraries but an article three years ago to close the Meriden Library was soundly defeated.
“There is opposition to replacing the Meriden Library but there is strong support for two libraries,” Halleran said. “If you like it, support it. You are probably never going to get a better deal than this one.”
Halleran said residents will have a state-of-the-art building that is handicap accessible and energy efficient for less than $200,000, which is not being borrowed with annual payments and interest.
The estimated tax rate impact on the article is 60 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation and would add $150 in taxes for one year on a property assessed at $250,000.
Crate said Monday, from his conversations in town with residents, the support is there this year.
“When I am at the deli mart in Meriden or up at the post office, people tell me they support it,” Crate said.
Residents can learn more about the library article at a presentation of the budget and warrant articles Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Plainfield Library and Wednesday Feb. 5 at the Meriden Town Hall, also at 7 p.m.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
