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Springville City Council will opt to go for a 45,000 square foot building to house the new public library with up to $9.8 million to come from a general obligation bond.
Although no formal action was taken in the regular work session held Tuesday afternoon at city hall, four of the five councilmen felt that the larger building was the best to go for at this time.
Councilman Mark Packard was not in attendance at the meeting because he was out of town.
The decision was based on a report from the library board who also favors the 45,000 square foot building. In discussing the issue, it was pointed out that the city has $3 million it will put forward towards the project and would like the library board to raise $1 million toward the the project.
Total cost of the new building would be estimated to be at $13.8 million.
The building is scheduled to be built on city ground presently occupied by the fire and police departments on the east side of Main Street between Center and 100 South streets.
Formal action must be taken by the council no later than August 5 of this year to get the bond issue on the November 4th ballot.
State law presently states that all public bond elections must be held in November or June with regular scheduled elections such at national, state or city regular elections.
The general obligation bond would be paid back to the city through an increase in the city's share of the property tax which presently is one of the lowest in the state according to what the council has been told.
The council in their discussion said that a home and lot valued at $243,000 would see a tax increase of about $72,47 per year over what they are paying now.
Brad Stapley, Springville Public Works Director, reported that the new waste water treatment facility is coming along as planned. He noted that so far the contractor has been coming along fine with no major problems.
He said the new facility is scheduled for completion a year from this October.
In formal actions the city passed a formal resolution which will allow the city to sell up to $8 million in revenue bonds from the Municipal Building Authority to guarantee financing of the new city hall and public safety facilities presently under construction on the park.
The council also set this years tax rate for property taxes at 0.001413. This rate is adjusted every year so that the city collects the same amount of property taxes each year allowing increases in the tax only as more people move into the city and new facilities are built.
The council also passed a no smoking ordinance on city parks similar to the Salt Lake City ordinance.
The city also accepted an offer to sell the three electric motive division (EMD) engines at the city power plant for $900,000.
These engines are the three small engines at the power plant and are used only when necessary because of their inefficient use of fuel as compared to the larger engines which remain very efficient even compared to new engines presently being sold on the market today.
Craig Conover, chairman of this year's Art City Days, and Chuck Keeler, recreation director for the city reported that this years celebration was very successful and involved both volunteers and city employees.
They reported that because of the good weather all events were well attended and were successful. |
