The Timing of the Project is Critical
u
|
If the
city does not provide a match for the DCED grant funds, the $7 Million will
be lost.
|
u
|
The state
grant requires that substantial continuing progress be made on the project in
order to retain grant funds, which must be fully expended within 5 years from
July 1, 2012.
|
u
|
Due to
construction lead times there is a relatively small window for starting the
project so that it can be completed within the five year time frame required
by the grant.
|
u
|
To meet these deadlines, the new library must be
included on this year’s sales tax ballot.
|
The Library Serves All of Juneau
The Valley is
the busiest of all of the Juneau Public Libraries.
|
|
u
|
23,029 (74%) of Juneau’s population hold Juneau Public
Libraries cards. – Valley
registrations are 49% of the total.
|
u
|
Public libraries visits totaled 334,400 last year. With
184,000 (55%) visits make the Valley library the busiest branch, despite the
large number of summer visitors downtown.
|
u
|
The Valley library directly serves an area that is home
to 56% of the Juneau population.
|
u
|
Valley population of children under age 5 is 61% of the
Juneau total and the valley population of K-12 age children and teens is also
61%.
|
u
|
More than 190 organizations used the Valley meeting
space in the past year, and this number increases every year.
|
u
|
The Valley library has the least space per user served
of any of the libraries in Juneau .
|
The New Library Will Save the City Money
There are high
operating costs for remaining in the mall location.
|
|
u
|
By the end of the current 3-year lease, the city will
have spent more than $6,500,000* on rent since the Valley Library opened in
the mall in 1983.
|
u
|
Annual rent will
be $198,000 in FY13 and $204,000 in FY14, and rising every year.
|
u
|
Since FY08 the rent for the mall space has increased
21%--far more than the rate of inflation.
|
u
|
Beginning in FY13, the amount of rent each year will be
more than is spent on books, computers, subscriptions, online resources and
supplies for all three libraries.
|
u
|
When budgets must be reduced, the library must cut
hours and resources that directly serve the public, while the rent has
continues to increase. This is at the expense of all the libraries, not just
the Valley.
|
* 2010 dollars.
Statistical Abstract of the United States.
Actual = $4,916,134
|
|
The new library
will save operating costs.
|
|
u
|
The new library will be staffed at the same level as
the existing Valley Library.
|
u
|
The new library will be energy efficient.
|
u
|
Utilities and maintenance that are now included in the
rent will increase at a rate that is less than the rate of increase in rent
payments. This difference will be greater over time.
|
u
|
The new library is projected to save $30,000 - $40,000
per year in operating expenses over the cost of operating the rental facility.
|
Valley Library users in their own words:
|
“The value of libraries lies as much
in creating public spaces and building communities as it does in lending
books and providing information. More and
more places require you to pay a fee, or at least spend money, before you are
welcome. In a library, you are welcome
regardless of who you are or whether you have money to spend. You are equally welcome to come through the
door for whatever reason brings you there. “
|
“It’s hard to use just a few words or
sentences to express my feelings about a real Valley Library-not a shop in
the mall- well maybe that says it all. It doesn't feel like a library to me.
I've been waiting for the Valley Library since shortly after I moved here in
1989. I wanted a Valley library even more when I found that all the money
being paid out was not staying in town. “
|
“It is long overdue and I was
surprised (and dismayed) at how much
money the city has paid in rent to the mall since 1983 (over $6.5 million dollars!). It only makes sense for
the Valley Library to have its own
space. … It will be wonderful to have
a true community library whose hours are not tied to the mall's hours.”
|
