Where’s the Oversight? Finance Committee Fails to Oversee $46 Million Library Project
Photo: istock
By Maria Kopicki
More questions than answers remain after the $46 Million Jones Library building project was discussed at a Finance Committee meeting on October 28, 2025 (recording here). Councilors Cathy Schoen (District 1, Chair), Mandi Jo Hanneke (at-large), Robert Hegner (District 5), and Andy Steinberg (at-large), spent less than 10 minutes getting a report from Finance Director Sean Mangano and asking a few questions.
The town has so far received $8.3 million from a Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) grant and $4.2 million from library fundraising, and needed to take out a $2.8 million BAN (Bond Anticipation Note) to cover expenses to date. The $1 million in Amherst Community Preservation Acts funds, authorized for work on Special Collections, has also been borrowed and used to pay part of the general contractor’s invoices for July and September 2025.
Mangano informed the Finance Committee that the funding the town currently has in hand (~$7 million) will soon run out as expenses are expected to average $3 million per month. The two remaining MBLC grant payments are not expected until June 2026 and March 2027 ($2.8 million each). Mangano explained, “It looks like we’re gonna have to go out for another [$9 million] borrowing in December of 2025, because at that point we will have exhausted all the MBLC funds, we will have exhausted all the the library contributions, and we’ll need to get the BAN in order to continue to be able to pay the bills.” That is expected to cover expenses until March 2026, at which point the plan, Mangano explained, is to borrow $30 million (converting the two existing BANs for $3 million and $9 million and adding $18 million in new borrowing).
The Town Council’s approval of the borrowing for the project was predicated on Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) signed by the library and town and a cashflow analysis that called for the library to have transferred $11.5 million to the town by January 2026 (only $4.2 million has arrived as of October 2025) with the balance of their share due at the end of the project. Mangano’s statement regarding the library’s obligations signals that the MOA is not being enforced. “We’re assuming them [library funds] just coming at the end, and then if they come in earlier, it’ll improve our cash flow, and we won’t have to borrow as much.”
Several questions remain unasked and unanswered and have been submitted to the Finance Director by the Indy and will be reported on in the future. They include a request for the following information:
- Details of the BAN that has already been taken out (date taken, exact dollar amount, term, what interest/costs will have accrued by the time it gets converted to long-term borrowing)
- Details of all money that has been transferred to the town from the library (dates received by the town, dollar amounts, sources such as private or corporate donations, state or federal grants, etc.)
Why does this account not appear to be earning any interest?
- Details of the $1M borrowing of CPA funds (date taken, interest rate, term, payment schedule)
Additionally, since these funds were specifically authorized to be used for Special Collections work, is there a problem that the funds have already been spent to pay Fontaine Brothers for work that does not have anything to do with the intended purpose (Special Collections)?
- Details on the line in the Borrowing account for a $50,000 “reimbursement” on 4/28/23 (what this was for, who reimbursed the town).
Also unaddressed was the fact that the most recent cash flow analysis is from November 2023 despite promises by the Town Manager that this would be provided as soon as the construction contract was signed and the project was moving forward in spring 2025.
Thanks for covering this meeting and topic! The meeting was disappointingly scant on details, with no financial documentation provided in the packet. I would have thought a financial report to the FinCom on multi-million dollar loans, debt service, and cash flow on a $46m construction project should be more than verbal.
I was glad Joe Jayne asked what the interest rate on the existing BAN is but Sean/Jennifer not having the information to hand was concerning.
Has the town started paying debt service on that $2.8 million BAN? If so, how much is it costing each month and where is the money to pay it coming out of – the Capital account?
What will the monthly repayment be when another $9 million is borrowed in December, and then another $18 million in March?
If my memory serves correctly, the MOA stipulated that the town is on the hook for ALL the BAN/Bond loan interest, not just the interest on the town’s share of $15.8m. That’s a drain on the already-inadequate capital budget.
Regarding the ever-elusive Library Project Cash Flow, Sean said in this meeting that “it was updated recently” (but it was not in in the packet). He said, “unlike the Fort River project where the financial adviser actually modeled out the debt service, he hasn’t modeled out the debt service yet for the library project based on that cash flow I just described. I think he’s looking for some direction from us first and then he will.” I’d like to see the updated debt service and know what the town is actually paying for this project.
Sean Mangano’s report that “we have about $4.1 or $4.2 million in contributions from the library” raises a question.
Setting aside that we have at best a $100,000 range for what the library has contributed (Sean had been back less than a week, so we will cut him some slack), $4.2 million is about $500,000 more than the $3,710,661 that the Capital Campaign has reported remitting to the town.
I am wondering if the town is now considering the $550,700 that the library trustees voted in June 2024 to spend on architect fees needed to rebid the project to be part of the library’s remittance?
MOA Amendment #3 expressly states that these architectural fees “will be added to the Library’s Share of the project cost.”
MOA Amendment #2 had set the Library share of the project cost at $13,822,518. So Amendment #3 increases the Library share by $550,700 to $14,373,218.
Is Sean now saying that the trustees picking up the rebid design fees was simply an advance and not a separate Jones Library liability? It seems that the town may be shortchanging itself and its taxpayers.
Hi Jeff
Thanks for pointing that out. There are 4 separate accounts that the town is using for the library project. One of them is the “Gift” account – the one that has Library payments to the town as “revenue” and various vendor payments as “expenses”. Asking for more details on the revenue side is one of the asks sent to Sean – it is not clear from the accounting sheets that I have received exactly what money was received, when, and what was its original source (private donations, corporate/institutional donations, state grants, federal grants). I can report that there have been $508,794.96 in expenses recorded to have been paid through this account, all between 7/23/24 and 11/20/24, so it seems that this account has been used to pay for the re-do of the bidding after the failed first bidding.
Hope this is helpful and I will provide more information as I receive it.
Hi Toni,
Agree.
I am awaiting further information on the debt service for the loans, including for the CPA funds that have been spent. Perhaps the latter will be reported when the CPA committee meets to discuss this years applications, one of which is from the Jones for another $1.4 million.
Without a cash flow plan (and execution), it’s like they are just making up the plan as they go along.
The lack of curiosity and firmness on the part of the Finance Committee about this important information is bewildering.