Officials will dig into redevelopment moneys and issue bond to
make up for $1.5 million overrun
Morgan Hill – The city can dig a little deeper into redevelopment agency funds and issue a bond to build a new library, according to a recommendation that will be presented to the Morgan Hill City Council Wednesday night.
City staffers had to prepare a new financing plan for the library last week after bids for the project came in about $1.5 million over the projected $17.5 million budget. And while the ground-breaking of the library has been postponed until May, if the council approves the new $19 million budget this week, the library should be ready by summer 2007.
“My confidence in city staff was rewarded,” said Carol O’Hare, president of Friends of the Morgan Hill Library. “I’m very pleased they have come up with a plan to start the library.
City Manager Ed Tewes said the city will borrow against revenue from rent paid by the Santa Clara County Library Joint Powers Authority and library impact fees paid by homebuilders. If approved by the council, the bond would raise $3.6 million and be repaid in 25 years.
“We had always planned on borrowing against those revenue streams,” Tewes said. “Now we are proposing a specific approach of how to borrow.”
Under the plan, the city will also tap about $400,000 more from the city’s redevelopment agency. That money is the share of design costs paid by the library JPA that the city had hoped to keep in the bank.
This is the second time in five months the council has been asked to increase funding for the library.
In November, the council voted to boost the library’s budget by about $500,000 to avoid using value-engineering, which typically involves substituting cheaper materials and cutting amenities deemed to be non-essential.
The library is already considerably smaller than was hoped for. Originally, the city was going to help pay for a $21 million, 40,000-square-foot building, but the project was cut when Morgan Hill failed to qualify for matching state funding.
The floor plan for the 28,000-square-foot library includes a large program room, a teen area, a large window facing El Toro Mountain to the west, sales and sorting rooms for the Friends of the Library, plenty of computers and a divided children’s area, all with their own restrooms and a separate spot for preschoolers.
When it opens, the library will be operated by the county system. The Peak Avenue library will remain open in the meantime.
