MONTAGUE — Residents will head to the polls on Wednesday, June 24, to cast their votes on whether to authorize a debt exclusion for the town’s $12.4 million portion of a proposed new $23.7 million library at 38 Avenue A.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with voting locations at the Montague Center Fire Station at 28 Old Sunderland Road for residents of Precinct 1; Franklin County Technical School at 82 Industrial Blvd. for Precincts 2, 3, 4 and 6; and the Gill-Montague Senior Center at 62 Fifth St. for Precinct 5.
The new library would be paid for using a debt exclusion, allowing the town to temporarily raise property taxes above the levy limit for the life of the bond, which could be 20 to 30 years. Tax-wise, it would add $159 per year to the tax bill on an average single-family home in Montague, but Montague Public Libraries Director Caitlin Kelley noted that this would drop to $64 per year following the end of the debt for the Turners Falls High School this fiscal year and the end of the Montague Public Safety Complex debt in fiscal year 2028.
The remaining $11.3 million will be covered by the state as part of the Massachusetts Public Library Construction Program.
The proposal is for construction of a 21,000-square-foot building at 38 Avenue A, which is still in the design phase and will take 10 months to complete. In early 2025, the town secured a $100,000 grant for the project’s design and planning phase. The remaining $150,000 was allocated by Town Meeting voters in May 2024.
Kelley said that this $11.3 million state grant is a set cost, and the project design must fall within budget, with check-ins with an independent estimating firm every few months as the project nears 100% design.
According to a handout about the financial impact of both the library project and the new Franklin Tech building project, prepared by Town Administrator Walter Ramsey for the recent Annual Town Meeting, both projects could be financed as debt exclusions, as the town has an excellent bond rating from “financial policies and strong revenues.”
The handout also notes there are trade-offs to both developments happening at the same time, including creating limitations on financing other building projects, like the proposed merger of the Hillcrest and Sheffield elementary schools.
Since the recent Annual Town Meeting, where residents voted 81-3 to authorize borrowing up to $12.4 million for the library, contingent upon Wednesday’s vote at the ballot box, signs across the five villages have cropped up, both in support of and opposed to the project, with further discourse on Facebook and in letters to the local press.
Kelley explained that, in response to “misinformation online,” the library has posted a myth-busting page. The page shares information on the impact to other town projects down the line, operational costs and project size, among other details.
“This project has been going on for a really long time, and we’ve done the best we can to build the best building for the community and the needs that they’ve outlined,” Kelley said. “Seeing the civic discourse about the project has been really interesting, and challenging at times.”
‘No’ votes
Urging a “no” vote is Ken Morin, chair of the Montague Affordability Committee, which has funded the vote “no” signs.
Morin said he feels the scope of the library is too large and that the operating costs will increase. The myth-busting page for the Turners Falls library shares that operating costs would be between $27,126 to $48,230 more than the costs of the current Carnegie Public Library annually, amounting to less than $10 per year for a taxpayer.
“We’ve got two other libraries in town,” Morin said, adding how the committee is also concerned about having the two satellite libraries in Montague Center and Millers Falls still operating. “That’s another thing that this committee has been against, which is why does a little town like Montague … then end up with three libraries?”
Morin also voiced concern about the cost of the project and what it would mean for taxpayers. Similarly, Chris Couture, who also sits on the Montague Affordability Committee, said as a commercial property taxpayer, he worries this would increase costs too much for businesses. Couture leads Couture Brothers Inc. on Avenue A.
“I’m not against libraries, first of all,” Couture said. “It’s just, I’m a commercial taxpayer in town. I have a lot of real estate, and I see what’s going to probably result in having an adverse effect to businesses downtown.”
Couture also argued that there’s “no cause and effect” when it comes to building a library to attract more business in town.
“If you want to attract business to town, you need businesses to come to town,” Couture said, “not libraries.”
Rachael Dillenback is one voter who says she was initially undecided on the library issue, but she has now decided to vote “no.”
She said her decision comes out of consideration for her neighbors, who she worries wouldn’t be able to handle the tax increase, as well as how disagreements over the library have been handled online.
“I know that if this were to pass, that $3 a week add-on to taxes would likely make it so I would no longer be able to purchase a home in Montague, because it’s just enough to make something that’s already difficult for me to reach, or maintain,” Dillenback said. “Down the road, this will become impossible.”
‘Yes’ votes
On the other end are the “yes” signs, some of which were funded by Vote Yes for a Montague Library, led by Will Quale and Tricia Perham.
Quale, who serves as a member of the library trustees and Library Building Steering Committee, explained that more than 100 volunteers raised money to put out signs in support of the library.
When asked about how the advocacy group has presented information to voters and businesses, especially with discussion over tax impact, Quale said he recognizes that taxes are something all residents grapple with, but for businesses in particular, a new library would stand to benefit them.
“It’s bringing people downtown where they can park, go to programming, get the library resources that are much more available to them here than they’ve been in the Carnegie, run their other errands,” Quale said, “and local businesses are really seeing that this will anchor that end of [Avenue A], give us a gateway thing that attracts people to Montague.”
“This is a chance that one small part of our taxes is going to support a positive part of the community,” Perham said when asked about residents’ concerns over taxes.
Quale added that the group has addressed the benefit to the community, including some “immediate dividends” in savings, such as reducing the gas that is currently needed to travel to other libraries that are farther away or the savings that comes from borrowing items from the library that might otherwise be purchased.
Both Quale and Perham emphasized how the new library would improve accessibility in a manner that the Carnegie lacks, with Perham describing the Carnegie as “inaccessible to many and inadequate to most.” At previous public outreach meetings about the library, residents have expressed a desire for greater accessibility.
One resident, Derek Birr, who has been part of the volunteer effort for the library, said that if his neighbors are concerned, he’s concerned for his neighbors. In speaking to residents about the extent of the tax impact, though, there’s an important consideration he wants people to take into account.
“Even if this library doesn’t pass,” Birr said, “we’re going to end up putting money into this library, and it could actually end up more expensive over time.”
