Letter: Town Council Must Head Off Emerging Library Project Fundraising Crisis
Photo: https://www.joneslibrary.org/
The following letter was sent to the Amherst Town Council on September 4, 2025.
Last February you directed the Town Manager to hold off on committing the town to a construction contract for the Jones Library renovation-expansion until “funding for the trustees’ share, grants, and other non-taxpayer share of the Jones project is secured.”
A history of overblown assurances and unmet promises by renovation-expansion enthusiasts shows that funding for the project is anything but secure.
Recall that prior to approving a supplemental appropriation of $9,860,100 for the underfunded project in December 2023, Town Manager Bockelman provided you with a cash flow model meant to demonstrate the undertaking’s financial viability. This document reported that construction would be completed by July 2025, that it would receive $1.8 million in historic tax credits, and that the Friends of the Jones Library Capital Campaign would reimburse the town $13,822,518 by July 31, 2026.
As it turns out, these predictions were either wildly optimistic or grossly misleading. The Town Manager signed a construction contract in April, and building completion is not expected until mid-2027 at the earliest. The project has been denied historic tax credits. And as of August 1, 2025, the Jones Library had transferred to the town only $1.65 million of its nearly $14 million commitment, despite formally agreeing to “deposit with the Town Treasurer all amounts of the Library Project Donations as and when the same is received by the Library.”
The Library Capital Campaign’s fundraising report presented at the August 15 meeting of the Jones Library Board of Trustees raises even more red flags. The total of gifts, government grants, and corporate & foundation giving was reported to be $7,969,212 as of August 1. Alarmingly, this figure is $1,775,928 less than the total reported one year earlier. The trustees responded with no explanation, only shrugs.
It is time for the Town Council to assume the mantle of accountability that it has promised to the residents of Amherst. The lame explanation that we need to trust the trustees “because they are elected officials” is no longer sufficient. Hollow assurance that the library will simply borrow whatever portion of their share that they aren’t able to fundraise is not sound financial planning, but mere hand waving.
The Town Council needs to demand answers to the following:
- How much in cash gifts has the capital campaign received?
- What are its prospects of raising the remaining library share?
- What schedule of reimbursement payments can the town expect going forward?
- How much will the library reasonably be able to borrow when its share is due?
- How will taking out a loan or tapping the endowment affect the library’s ability to meet operating expenses with its customary 4-5% annual draw?
Trustees and town councilors who took office with the approval of funding for the Jones renovation-expansion as a political agenda item may feel that their work is done. The fact is that the town’s finances are in critical condition, with the Finance Committee discussing cuts to high priority services and members proposing yet another tax override. The need to head off an emerging library project fundraising crisis is urgent.
Jeff Lee
Jeff Lee is a resident of Amherst’s District 5 and a frequent contributor to the Indy.
The Jones Library capital campaign assured us that once ground was broken for the Jones expansion, the donations would be pouring in. But the only things that have been pouring in are unexpected bills. As of July, and before construction started, the project burned through about 22% of its $3.56M contingency. That will no doubt escalate once they get into the actual demolition and asbestos removal in a building that is 150 years old. It is pretty clear where this is going. The town is on the hook for the full cost of the project and the $47M in borrowing that has been authorized so far is certain to prove insufficient. Expect the trustees to come back to Town Council with a request for more money some time in 2026 (i.e. after town-wide elections). It is now too late to stop this profligate project but the town council can undertake measures, as Jeff has suggested, to assure that this project doesn’t dig the fiscal hole any deeper and impose a couple of decades of additional austerity on the town. Amherst voters might consider asking each candidate for town council to pledge that they will not approve any more borrowing for this project.