Highland Library Loses

Recently I wrote about the plans for replacing the 2,500-sq-ft library building in Highland with a refurbished building on another site that would have 13,390-sq-ft of space for the library and community rooms. Because Highland is a school-district library, residents of the school district could vote to support a bond issue that would cover much of the cost of creating the new library building.  Had it passed, it would have been a $6.6-million bond (at a low rate of interest for 25 years), but the vote failed by 811 against to 716 for, a 95-vote disparity.  In other words, if 48 voters had chosen "yes" instead of "no," the vote would have passed.

Of course these are hard economic times.  The average householder in Highland would have had his school taxes increased by $78 per year (for this purpose--school taxes have been rising fast for other reasons as well), an amount that would be on the bill for the next 25 years.  Still, interest rates are at all-time lows.  The present Highland building is too small, and the library will need to do something. Missing this chance to rehabilitate the existing building probably means acquiring a site and building from scratch.  I am not sure how much land the present library occupies or the amount of parking available, but one option if they have land already would be to tear down and build on that site--although that usually poses problems of its own.

I was not enamored of the design for the rehabilitated building, but it does seem that this is a lost opportunity for Highland.  Here in Pleasant Valley, we certainly would not be able to raise the $6.8 million total cost (Highland has $200,000 in cash they can tap outside the failed bond), so perhaps I should not be surprised that the vote failed in Highland.  As a free-association library, the Pleasant Valley Library, which also vitally needs more room, cannot field a bond.  At most we might be able to raise half of the amount Highland wanted through grants, donations, and loans.