COMMENTARY: With zeal for new library, City Council brushes aside financial concerns
Unsettled operating agreement, lack of private fundraising, and undetermined size and cost among issues
At a recent Williamsburg City Council meeting, multiple supporters of building a new downtown library spoke decisively and passionately about the need for the significant investment. The City Council concurred and seems ready to move ahead with the project.
But in their quest to build, Council has failed to adequately address multiple financial concerns regarding the project. In typical fashion, the city presents rosy results without worrying about the thorns.
1. Finalize the new library system agreement
As of the time of this writing, a new joint operating agreement for the library system between Williamsburg and James City County is still in limbo. (Seems like we’ve heard this kind of thing before).
The vast majority of users of the current downtown library are James City County residents. Is the county going to continue to pay for them to use the new downtown library? If not, the city doesn’t need such a big, beautiful building.
With plans to spend tens of millions to build two libraries, it's long past time to figure out a new agreement. If history repeats itself, neither the county or city will announce anything until it’s about to be signed.
2. Secure private funding as stated
Even after the operating agreement is signed, there’s still work to do before the library should be approved. The City has previously stated a goal of raising $5 million in private and grant funding to help build the new library. Officials indicate that these efforts are still developing and no definitive contributions or grants can be reported.
The persuasive voices from the meeting should be directed somewhere else than City Council, because that’s just preaching to the choir. Council usually seems ready to find out how deep their constituents’ pockets are and how much more can be extracted, and now seems no different. But it’s time for someone other than residents to have some skin in the game.
3. Negotiate the shared expense of staff space
If a new operating agreement is reached and the library system’s central administration is to remain in Williamsburg in the new building, then James City County needs to help cover the cost of the staff space. This precedent was set in the recent joint-operating school agreement, which laid out that shared-use space would be paid for and maintained by both Williamsburg and James City County. It represents a significant amount of money for this project and Williamsburg should hold their neighbor to the same standard now.
4. Then, tell us how much it’s all actually going to cost
You could have whiplash watching the flurry of figures thrown around by the city regarding the cost of a new library. It’s been so hard to keep track, one might even wonder if that’s actually been the city’s strategy all along.
Once you add on the millions in interest costs, construction contingencies, and the multi-million expenditures to furnish the library’s interior, you wind up with a figure that’s significantly larger than the $20-$25 million currently floated by the city.
It’s time that Williamsburg’s leadership provides a clear picture to their constituents about the total costs of this project. But to do so, they need to deal with the issues above first. Until then, any approval for project should be delayed.