Library: $5m too good to pass up

Trustees may seek override again

A rendering of the proposed $12 million Walpole library.

Walpole residents are likely to get a second chance this spring to replace their century-old public library.

The proposal, which would boost property taxes for 20 years, was rejected at the general election last month. In these tough economic times, any tax increase is expected to meet some resistance, but Walpole's library trustees are arguing that the deal is too good to pass up.

In order to build the $12 million library at the corner of School and Stone streets, the town would borrow $7 million to augment a $4 million state grant and $1 million in private donations.

"Our thinking is we have to try this again; how can we turn away $5 million in free money," said Paul Cesary, chairman of the library board of trustees.

The trustees have asked the Board of Selectmen to put a tax-override question on the warrant for the spring Town Meeting on May 4, where representatives would decide whether to present the question to voters at the townwide local election on June 6. The board is expected to vote on the request this month, said chairwoman Catherine Winston, who said she will vote in favor.

A simple majority is needed at the polls to approve overrides of Proposition 2 1/2, a state law that limits an increase in a community's annual property tax revenue to 2.5 percent, plus revenue from new construction. The library question would be a so-called debt exclusion, which would increase taxes for a specified period to repay borrowing.

If the measure is approved, the borrowing would cost the owner of an average single-family home, assessed at $442,000, about $79 the first year, and a few dollars less in each of the subsequent 19 years.

The grant that makes the library deal so sweet would come from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and expires on Dec. 31, 2009. It requires that the town secure the balance of funds before a contract can be signed.

Unlike state-funded school building projects, the grant doesn't come as a reimbursement: If voters approve the override, Walpole will almost immediately receive 30 percent of the $4 million. Subsequent funds will arrive as the project builds out.

At the Nov. 4 election, the first request for a new library failed on a vote of 6,976 against the proposal and 6,108 in favor. More than 80 percent of Walpole's 16,501 registered voters turned up at this election, and some local officials say the library proposal would have a better chance next year.

In a high-turnout national election, voters are more likely to say no to all ballot questions, officials say. But in a local election, which typically draws no more than 30 to 35 percent of registered voters, supporters of local initiatives are more motivated to vote than those opposed.

"You have a better chance of passing local issues in a townwide meeting," said Town Clerk Ron Fucile.

Library trustees have been working on the project since 1989, and Cesary faults his own impatience for putting the ballot question before voters during the presidential election.

"I finally got anxious after putting it off for 19 years . . . and seeing the price go from five, six, seven to 10 to 12 million . . . and realizing there's never going to be a good time," Cesary said.

The economic crisis had not fully surfaced when the trustees chose to put the question on November's ballot, but was certainly on people's minds by Election Day. And though tight financial times prompt people to close their pocketbooks, they also send them to the library.

"Library usage historically increases when the economy is down," said library director Jerry Romelczyk, who has seen 11 months of increased use.

Additionally, Walpole's population has nearly doubled since the library, constructed in 1903, was last renovated in the '60s.

The trustees believe libraries must provide a myriad of services to residents, from preschoolers to seniors, which has become difficult to accomplish in the cramped and largely handicapped-inaccessible building.

The space inside the proposed 32,000-square-foot building has been designed to accommodate various uses. Among the highlights are dozens of computers, several small private meeting rooms, and a large common room that can seat 130 and operate independently from the rest of the building.

For those who wonder if libraries are necessary in the computer age, Cesary cited increased nationwide library usage since computers have become widely used, and Bill Gates's enormous charitable contributions to libraries.

"Libraries are in the information business: They collect and disseminate information and the format is always going to change. Whatever the technology is, libraries have to stay current and provide for people in the community," said Cesary.

"They got a tremendous vote in the fall," Fucile said, noting that more than 6,000 people voted in favor of the library. "That shows there were a good amount of people out there who know a library is needed."