After having been designated to receive just under $1.2 million in state funds for capital projects, the New Rochelle Public Library is planning to ask voters to approve a bond issue for $55 million more. The city’s school district has approved including on its May 19 school board and budget election ballot the question of whether the library should be authorized to proceed with a $55 million bond issue.
Voters will be asked to approve the bonding to pay for a multi-year library modernization program.
According to the Library Board, the library has not undergone any renovation since it was built in 1979 and the $55 million in funding would fully modernize the facility.
It was announced a few weeks ago that New York State Senators Shelley Mayer and Nathalia Fernandez and Assemblymembers Steve Otis and Amy Paulin each arranged $250,000 in funding from the New York State and Municipal Facilities Grant program for a $1 million replacement of the building’s roof.
In addition, the library was awarded $180,544 in State Aid for Library Construction to replace the theater and entrance roofs and to renovate the multi-stack chiller needed to maintain the building’s air conditioning system.
Eugenia Schatoff, executive director of the library, said that the $55 million bond funding would represent “a first step toward ensuring the library can serve the community for generations to come. I have worked in libraries my entire career because I believe in what they stand for: that knowledge should be free, that opportunity shouldn’t depend on where you come from, and that every person in a community deserves a welcoming place to learn and grow.”
According to Lucille Renwick, president of the Library Board, “A modernized library with community spaces, improved infrastructure and overall building is so needed for all of New Rochelle. Now, we will work to ensure that New Rochelleans see that vision as well when they go to vote on May 19.”
At a recent meeting the Library Board discussed the proposed $55 million bond and noted that if financed over 25 years it would mean a $204.99 annual increase in taxes for the average household. It was said that if the voters approve issuing the bond in the May election, the library will not issue the bond right away. The bond would only be issued when funds are actually needed, typically just before construction begins, which the board anticipated would not begin until 2028.
The board classified the condition of the library building as “dire,” especially key infrastructure such as the HVAC system and the roof.
Public information sessions on the proposed bond issue are scheduled to be held at the library on April 16 and 28.
