Not One Penny More? Jones Library is Back, Asking the Town for Even More Money

By Mickey Rathbun and Maria Kopicki

Back in 2023, Town Council President Lynn Griesmer pledged that the town would not spend a single penny more on the Jones Library demolition/expansion project than its $15.8 million share. The library is now calling the town’s bluff, asking for over $1.4 million in FY2027 Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds: $1.35 million for construction expenses and $75,000 to move the Civil War tablets from the Bangs Center to the library basement. This is in addition to the $1 million in CPA funds that the town granted to the library project in 2021. That would bring the total amount of town spending on this project to $18.2 million in principal payments alone (39% of the total cost) while dropping the library’s share to 27%. That’s a lot more town pennies.  

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) has committed $15.6 million for the project estimated to cost $46.1 million. That leaves $13.8 million promised by the Jones Library Trustees, of which they have delivered less than $5 million, even while paying a professional fundraising group. The library’s application describes this grab for a second large sum of Amherst CPA funding as “an important component of our overall fundraising strategy.”  This “strategy” – soaking Amherst taxpayers for more money – was never mentioned to the public or to the Town Council when it took votes on whether to increase the borrowing for the project by $10 million in 2021. Nor was it mentioned when the Town Council was reassessing whether to continue with the project in 2024, or when the Library asked for numerous extensions from the MBLC. Does the library intend to execute this same “strategy” in future years?

Town CPA funds come from a 3% surcharge on local property taxes and a variable contribution from the state. In other words, most CPA funds are Amherst taxpayer dollars. CPA funds are intended to support affordable housing, historical preservation, and open space/recreation projects. This year’s 16 requests total over $7.5 million. Over the past six years, the CPA has approved an average of $2.2 million per year. If the library were to receive the $1.4 million it seeks, that would leave only around $800,000 to fund all the other CPA requests that include $1.1 million for affordable housing initiatives, $2.5 million for recreation and open space projects, and $2.2 million in historic preservation work. Servicing the debt on the $1 million in CPA funds already approved for the library project will consume approximately 20% of the total CPA debt service; the additional requested funds would increase that to around 40%. 

That Amherst taxpayers are already being asked to take on a significant portion of the library’s share of the project does not bode well for the future. Long before the Town Council agreed to let the project go forward, it was clear that the Library Trustees would not be able to raise their share of the project expense. In light of the library’s current CPA request, it’s clear that the Town Council exercised extremely poor judgment in letting the project move forward. With town elections being held less than two weeks from now, voters deserve to know how prospective Town Councilors plan to respond to the library’s request for more CPA funds.

Mickey Rathbun and Maria Kopicki are residents of Amherst.