Community Foundation donates $75,000 to support library programming
The Dubois County Community Foundation announced they will grant the Jasper Public Library Endowment $75,000 if the referendum passes.
Voters in the City of Jasper are being asked to support the Jasper Library’s request to bond up to $6.5 million to build a new library at the corner of Mill Street and Third Avenue.
“Many have asked the question, ‘How will we pay for this project once it is built?’” said Clayton Boyles, Community Foundation Executive Director. “It is an important question we feel needs to be answered, and one that falls within our core business; you build sustainability now.”
With the donation, the Jasper Public Library Endowment fund has over $100,000 available in it. Those funds were set aside to support programming and any special needs the library has as it continues to serve the community.
“We are grateful for this generous contribution that will only increase our funding for future operations and programming to benefit our citizens and visitors,” said Dean Vonderheide, Jasper Public Library Board president. “This endowment will help us minimize property taxes in the future by allocating sustainable resources for the library.”
The library endowment will join a variety of endowments held by the Community Foundation for projects across the county, such as The Parklands, the Astra Theatre and Huntingburg Stellar Community.
This grant is the second largest in the organization’s history, second only to a grant made in 2014 to the Next Act. The $100,000 matching grant to support the Astra Theatre.
The library grant is not a matching grant.
“This is an exciting but also pivotal time in our community,” Boyles said. “The momentum is strong and the time is now to move this project forward.”
As absentee voting begins Wednesday, the passage of the library referendum is an essential component to the creation of the Jasper Cultural Center. Although the library is asking voters to support up to $6.5 million, if the referendum fails, the community risks losing about $7 million in donations and tax credits for the larger project. The grant hinges on the referendum passing as well.
“We believe the Cultural Center is a visionary project that will enhance the quality of life in Jasper and Dubois County for many generations and we want to get behind that. We hope you will, too,” Boyles said.
If citizens of Jasper want a new library so bad then they should have fundraisers, ask for private money and have the people that want it pay for it that way rather than raise property or any other tax on people who have never and will never use the Library? Oh and maybe they should not have wasted all that money in the beginning on research for property that they knew would never work as a location.
They are fundraising. There is already a commitment of around $7 million in tax credits and money donations that have been pledged towards the library. But, these donations/tax credits are all contingent on the referendum passing. Remember, the referendum only states bonding up to $6.5 million. I watched the first town hall meeting online, and my takeaway is that any additional donations would reduce the amount borrowed; and if the project begins to exceed the $6.5 million cap, they will scale back the project to meet the capped amount. Someone from the library board or the supporters group, correct me if I’m wrong please.
So what about all the people that do not drive a car? Do they not pay taxes that help maintain roads? What about the married couples who do not have children? Do they not pay taxes that help fund schools?
Can I stop paying into Social Security because I am not receiving it yet?
The increase in taxes for a $100,000 property value is right around $60. Addressing a letter from earlier, that is quite a deal!
Scott and Adam are absolutely correct in their assumptions. There are other parallels such as food stamps, welfare, flood control, etc.