As we prepare to update the Croton Free Library for the years ahead, we want to make sure you have all the facts. This FAQ addresses the most common questions regarding our budget, design choices, and daily operations during construction.
Budget and Finance
You can find this information under The Tax Impact section of the website.
The budget serves two purposes. First, it establishes a sustainable model that accounts for rising costs, including insurance, utilities, programs, materials, and staffing, and ensures the Library can fully support its operations without relying on fundraising. Second, it supports the renovation by covering the debt service on the loan the Library is taking out to fund construction.
As anyone who has done home improvements knows, costs never go down! There are also real advantages to doing all the work at once: a single period of disruption, economies of scale on materials and lower up-front costs for hiring professionals.
If the budget does not pass, Library funding will remain the same as the previous year. We would need to radically reassess what improvements must be made to secure the infrastructure and create a schedule to allow for that with funds already in hand.
No! This budget was carefully crafted to account for future projections and we do not anticipate a comparable increase going forward.
Design and Services
Many possibilities were discussed. There is a strong community feeling that the Library’s appearance should be preserved. It is a central building in our village with a unique mid-century modern style. Expanding vertically also carries significant long-term costs–elevators add a great deal of expense in both maintenance and insurance. There is, however, a planned modest expansion to accommodate a new Children’s Room and entry vestibule.
The parking lot is not part of the building renovation but we are currently securing separate grant funding to improve the lot's lighting. We are holding off on a full resurfacing or changing the lot's flow for two reasons. First, leveling or addressing the lot's grade is not realistic right now, and it makes no sense to bring heavy construction equipment onto a newly paved lot; therefore, any major lot work needs to wait until the building renovation is complete. Second, by using our operating budget to handle the loan's debt service, we are keeping the Library's financial options open, which allows us to safely manage this renovation while retaining the option to refinance for bigger projects in the future.
This will depend on the architect’s guidance in phasing the different parts of construction and how much disruption to Library operations we determine is acceptable. We will keep you updated as the plans develop!
There may be times Library use is limited or unavailable. This will be determined as we move forward. No decisions have been made yet about closures or alternate spaces. The most important consideration we have is being available while being wise in our spending as the renovation progresses.
To serve our community well, libraries naturally need to weed their collections. We will use this opportunity of shifting materials during this transition to evaluate our collection based on circulation statistics, overall quality, and the actual needs of our community. Our goal is to strike a balance between offering the most requested, popular materials and maintaining high-quality, timeless resources without letting excess items monopolize our shelf space.
Improved spaces that will allow more flexibility for programs and people looking for study/work areas. The better flow of the Library will help people more easily access what they might be looking for and help them discover things maybe they didn’t know they were looking for!
There will be more private work and study spaces than we currently have and the new layout will allow more of the reading areas to be quieter overall.