The City Council gives its blessing to bond measure to expand library
Approval for $15 million--more than was requested
Target is the March election
By Kara Chalmers
Saratogans want a first-rate library, and that's what they'll get. City Council members on Nov. 17 unanimously approved the Library Commission's recommendation that a general obligation bond measure be placed on the March 7 ballot and added an extra million dollars to the amount commissioners requested to renovate and expand the Saratoga library. The total amount of the bond is now $15 million.
The cost to taxpayers will average about $12 per year per $100,000 in assessed property value over 30 years, according to Brian Quint, the attorney the city hired to help with the bond.
"I'm overwhelmed," Library Commission Chairwoman Marcia Manzo said after the vote. "It's like years and years of work have just paid off."
Commissioners requested a $14 million bond to turn the existing 18,000-square-foot facility into a "first rate, no frills library," with room to grow. The new facility is estimated to be between 46,000 and 49,000 square feet, according to the Library Commission's 1999 needs assessment report.
Council member Nick Streit, who moved to adopt the resolution for a $15 million bond, said the extra million will make sure the nearby Heritage Orchard is preserved.
Because commissioners decided not to spend money on an architect's rendering until a bond measure was passed, it is impossible to know what the new library will look like or where patrons will park. If a parking or expansion problem arises down the road, $15 million will likely cover it.
A coalition of the Library Commission, the Friends of the Saratoga Libraries and the members of the Saratoga Community Library Foundation decided to request the bond measure because the last step of their awareness campaign, a Nov. 7-9 tracking poll, showed that more than two-thirds of Saratogans support a $14 million bond for expanding the library. The poll is the second of two paid for by the Friends since June, and according to Ben Tulchin, research associate for the polling firm, the bond has an excellent chance of passing in the March 7 election.
Only 7 percent of Saratogans would definitely oppose a bond measure, according the poll. Also, the two polls showed that citizens prefer a bond for $14 million rather than $11.5 million.
"Voters want a full solution," Tulchin said. "They want to solve the problem completely and solve it right the first time."
Tulchin said the increase to $15 million is unlikely to change the support of Saratogans for the bond measure because the results of the June poll, which tested a $20 million bond, showed that more than two-thirds of voters would support it.
The bond will specifically go toward renovating and expanding the library in its current location.
"The Saratoga Library is an architectural statement--one Saratogans like and do not want to lose," Manzo said at the meeting. "Maintaining the look and feel of the current facility is an issue."
Also important to citizens, and therefore included in what the bond will pay for are more books, space for more books, ensuring modern earthquake standards, quiet study rooms, rewiring to improve access to the Internet, more children's programs, improved access to fire exits, more seating, replaced lighting and improved access for people with disabilities.
The need for expansion is quite clear, Manzo said. The library houses 75 percent more volumes than it was designed for and checkouts have almost tripled in the past 15 years. Many shelves have been installed to accommodate the collection, so there aren't enough seats and there is too little room to browse comfortably.
A 1997 Friends poll to find out whether Saratogans would favor a bond measure to support renovation and expansion showed that Saratogans weren't ready to do so at that time.
Mayor pro tem Stan Bogosian, who in 1997 was on the library expansion committee, said Nov. 17, "It's better late than never, and I'm very gratified that during my term on this council I was able to participate in this."
Now that City Council members have adopted the bond resolution, they next must enact an ordinance at the second reading of the bond Nov. 23 at 8 a.m. in the conference room at City Hall. Then the council will authorize the city to post the ordinance in the San Jose Mercury News and the Saratoga News. The city must submit the exact ballot language to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters by Dec. 10.
The law firm of Quint & Thimmig in San Francisco, which the city has hired as bond counsel, will help the city prepare the ordinance and will draft the necessary legal documents relating to the bond.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
