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Q&A
Discussion on proposed $1.4 billion capital funding for libraries over 10 years
0:40:14
·
4 min
Council Member Justin Brannan and library representatives discuss the proposed $1.4 billion capital funding for libraries over 10 years, addressing the sufficiency of this funding and the challenges in long-term capital planning.
- Library leaders express difficulty in predicting long-term capital needs due to rising costs and changing dollar values.
- The importance of a significant commitment in the ten-year capital plan is emphasized for effective planning and execution of projects.
- The discussion highlights the urgency of capital investment to mitigate rising costs and avoid inefficient emergency repairs.
Justin Brannan
0:40:14
So in the budget in the council budget response, we called for a meaningful inclusion of library capital needs in the ten year plan, including 1,400,000,000.0 over the next ten years.
0:40:26
Would that be sufficient funding to cover all the system's infrastructure needs?
Dennis Walcott
0:40:31
You
Linda Johnson
0:40:37
know, ten years is a long time.
0:40:39
And it seems today like that's the magic number.
0:40:45
Who knows?
Justin Brannan
0:40:46
So could you give us an idea of how much above and beyond the 1.4 how much additional capital would be needed?
Linda Johnson
0:40:53
No, I can't.
0:40:53
I mean we submitted the number that I and I didn't mean to be cheeky.
0:40:57
It's just hard to predict what the value of a dollar will be in ten years.
0:41:02
What we thought, you know, what we anticipated an overhaul of a library would be four years ago doesn't come close to covering what it actually costs today.
0:41:12
That's my only point.
0:41:14
The numbers that we've given you are in fact the numbers that we've projected that would cover the cost of our needs.
Anthony "Tony" Marx
0:41:21
Just to reiterate, when the the administration provided us with a hundred million dollar infusion through the ten year capital plan, that was a historic move because it just had never happened before.
0:41:36
We thought we could do five Carnegies for that.
0:41:38
We ended up having to add another $76,000,000 to that just because the cost went up.
UNKNOWN
0:41:44
Mhmm.
Anthony "Tony" Marx
0:41:44
Now as we we have funding for Seward Park, which we're grateful for, The costs, again, continue to go up, so we're gonna need to find and work with you all and with the administration to find additional resources.
0:41:57
And there are many more Carnegies and other branches that we wanna do.
0:42:02
Those that are landmarked, we need to respect that.
0:42:05
Ones where we can replace the libraries with affordable housing on top.
0:42:10
The costs keep going up, but I do want to I do wanna reiterate, chairman Brennan, being in the you know, that being at the $1,400,000,000 mark would be extraordinary.
0:42:22
Anything close to that.
0:42:23
What we need is a commitment in the ten year capital plan that is a significant one because without that, we cannot plan, we cannot execute, we cannot find partners where it's possible to not necessarily work with DDC, we can provide, we can get things done in half the time for half the money.
0:42:49
That means we have more money left to do more projects even as costs continue to escalate.
0:42:55
It's all about what any individual would understand.
0:43:00
We need to know what we have to work with and to have enough to work with to be able to get the results that you want, that the mayor wants, that we all want to see in our libraries in every one of our neighborhoods.
Dennis Walcott
0:43:15
So just to add one more piece, the longer we wait for the investment, the more it will cost.
0:43:23
And so having that investment as quickly as possible allows us to get the projects off the ground based on today's cost.
0:43:31
But who would have known last year the type of challenges from the capital side and expense side we would be facing with trade wars and everything else going on and the impact.
0:43:42
So the erosion of the dollar over a period of time becomes even steeper.
0:43:47
And so I think the investment that we talk about meets our needs at this current point in time, but the longer we wait that investment will go up.
Anthony "Tony" Marx
0:43:56
Can I just add one point to Dennis' comment?
0:43:58
The when we don't have the commitment to do projects in a in a planned and effective way, we end up having to do emergency repairs that we have to pull money from our expense budget, and we end up with closed libraries unexpectedly.
0:44:17
It those and then we do Band Aid solutions because that's the best we can do, which are a waste of the public's money because that's not the way to keep our buildings operating so that we can ensure that they're operating so that people will come to our doors and know that they are open when we say that they'll be open.
0:44:38
We'd like them to be open more on Sundays, etcetera.
0:44:43
But, you know, it all comes back to having the kinds of resources that makes it possible for us to do in a rational, planned way what you want us to do, what the mayor wants us to do.