By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The Township Committee on Monday backed a statewide ballot question seen as a potential funding source to construct a new public library in town.
The library construction bond act would allow the state to float $125 million in bonds, if voters approve Nov. 7, Mayor David Cook said. The committee passed a resolution urging voters to support the referendum.
“It would be advantageous to us if it passes,” said Cranbury Library Director Marilynn Mullen by phone.
Lawmakers had put the question on the ballot, with bipartisan support. Assemblyman Wayne P. DeAngelo (D-14), who represents Cranbury, was one of the sponsors of the legislation in the lower house.
“I hope it passes and that Wayne decides he wants to throw money into the district,” Township Committeeman James Taylor said during the meeting.
“Because we’re ready for it,” added Deputy Mayor Susan Goetz.
The grant program would work on a one-to-one matching basis, so in theory the library could seek as much as $2.8 million, the amount it already has on hand. Mullen said the cost of the project would go up, owing to the delay in starting work and officials planning to add things like furniture and cabinetry they had taken out when they put the job out to bid earlier this year.
Officials had to hold up the library project after those bids came in higher than expected, leaving a roughly $400,000 shortfall. The library board, in September, had to reject all 17 bids, the lowest of which was at a little less than $3.1 million.
The library is seeking to move out of Cranbury School, in what has been a long-time goal for a place of its own. The Cranbury Library Foundation has said the project would provide a “twenty-first century library” to serve as a “community living room.”
But should the ballot question fail next month, town and library officials would have to decide the next steps for a project that has attracted wide community support. The township has agreed to provide $475,000 for the parking lot and site development.
