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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fund Drive Starts To Build Library Board Wants To Reduce Cost To Taxpayers

Since voters here are in the habit of rejecting levies, the East Bonner County Library Board has decided to take a new tact.

The board has launched a private fund-raising campaign to build a new $3 million library, which voters turned down last year.

“The plan is to raise as much money as possible and make a good-faith effort to reduce the cost to taxpayers,” Library Director James Murray said.

“If we can cut some costs and come up with our own money, then I think we can go back to the taxpayers with a levy or bond in a year.”

The library landed its first major donation Monday. Leonard and Helen Anderson of Hope, Idaho, gave about $25,000 to the effort.

“We are both retired school teachers and continue to be interested in education and feel a library is important,” Helen Anderson said.

“We feel if others make some similar donations maybe the levy wouldn’t be so big and it would pass.”

The Andersons signed over 500 shares of stock in Panhandle State Bank. The stock will be sold and deposited in the library building fund. “It’s a generous contribution and hopefully it will encourage others to the same,” Murray said.

The board has received about $1,000 in other donations and has $115,000 in its building fund. The sale of the current library would generate another $400,000 for the project.

Murray admits that’s a miniscule amount of the millions needed, but it’s money in the bank that can be used as matching funds for grants.

Also Monday, the board unveiled a model of the proposed 24,000-square-foot building. It would be built on the corner of Cedar and Division streets on a parcel the library already owns.

The existing library is in a 68-yearold building and has about 8,000 square feet of usable space. It’s stuffed to capacity with books, leaving little room for the public, library employees, computers or reading areas.

The library also has limited parking, and outdated wiring, plumbing and heating systems. Several rooms in the basement had to be closed because they contained asbestos.

The new building will have a public meeting area, study rooms, a children’s reading area and separate computer rooms.

“We want a library that people will be excited about,” Murray said.

, DataTimes