End-of-Year Giving Summary — and Encouragement

It’s the season of gifts and taking stock in the year that’s ending. So it seems fitting that last night Ron Knight gave a summary report on the Friends of the Mendon Public Library’s capital campaign to the town board.

Activity on the library construction site continued today despite the snow. (Click the photo to enlarge it.)

As of Dec. 7, about 10 months into the effort, the campaign has contacted more than 1,100 people; raised almost $250,000 in gifts, commitments and pledges; and has more than 45 proposals outstanding, reported Knight, chairman of the campaign. He noted that the campaign is in its quiet, leadership gift phase and that a public fund-raising campaign will follow this summer or early fall.

A key goal of the campaign is to ensure that the new library construction has no impact on taxes other than the increase associated with the $1.35 million bond that residents approved 3-1 in a 2008 referendum. The town also has the ability to borrow an additional $660,000 for the project from a bond that was put in place this spring to allow phase 1 (the new building now underway) to go out to bid.

The town is working on how much of that $660,000 will need to be drawn to complete phase 1. Early projections suggest that the amount borrowed may be less than the total amount possible, and that the campaign will be able to cover the first payment on the bond by budget time this coming September. This would mean no tax increase would result from this borrowing in the first year.

As part of its outreach, the campaign recently sent an end-of-year giving reminder postcard, which has generated some wonderful gifts and five-year pledges before the Dec. 31 tax deadline. Thanks! It’s not too late to send yours in. Find a pledge card here.

Details, Details, Details…Producing Results!

Talk about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s…

Upon my return from vacation last week, I had a great conversation with Town Supervisor John Moffitt. While I was at the beach, John, Mary Fletcher and others in town hall were busily attending to details to get new library construction underway in the next few weeks (Thank you all!). For example:

• Signed contracts are now in place from each of the four primes on the project. Plus, each contractor has provided proof of bonding, which protects the town (and us taxpayers) should one of the companies not complete its part of the project.
• The town board held a special meeting last Wednesday to approve purchasing construction insurance on the project. A very good news item: the town had budgeted $5,000 for this insurance and the actual cost, after getting four quotes through the town’s broker, was approximately $1,500.
• A report of approximately 40 pages about the town of Mendon (such as tax assessments) was prepared as a preliminary step in the process of securing a bond rating–and eventually an interest rate–on the bond that the town will take to help fund the project. Taxpayers approved a $1.35 million bond in September 2008. A successful private capital campaign will ensure that an additional bond of $660,000 would not need to be rolled into the $1.35 million bond.

Things to watch for…a few more construction trailers and a fence on the site are expected soon! Remember, it’s not safe to walk around an active construction site.