Some of us recall that in the Local Elections 4 years ago both City Hall, the Library and the Gazette 

Were quite firm in their assertions that the Library could be run on no more why even LESS then in the past

Fact-checking in Cedar Rapids' at-large council race

Justin Wasson said the city is building a downtown library that is too big, too nice and too expensive. He said the city is getting a "giant" library downtown that is "significantly bigger than the older library" In the end, with the cost to maintain the building, "I'm going to be paying off this library for the rest of my life." 

The Gazette's Fact Check Claim was 

Determination: Mostly fiction 

 Why: The city's former downtown library at 500 First St. SE was 84,000 square feet in size. The new library will be 94,000 square feet, with more space for children and teens, library officials said.

The new $49 million library is being built without local property taxes. The money comes from a mix of federal disaster funds, a state I-JOBS grant, private donations and $4 million in revenue from the city's local option sales tax, which already has been collected.

Bob Pasicznyuk, the city's library director, said Thursday the operational costs at the new library will not be any larger than the operational costs at the old one, and may be less.

That same claim was made during the online debate on the Iowa Conservative;Union's Facebook Fanpage 

Vote No November 3rd 

Carl Whiting I hope you all understand that this meme

 

is simply incorrect. The new building costs much less to

 

operate than the old building and is mortgage/debt free.

 

Look up the facts before you commit to a

 

 

mistake.http://crlibrary.org/librarylevy/

 

Like · Reply · Message · 7 · November 1 at

 

9:50pm · Edited

 

So WHY the sudden need for the maximum Levy?

Well it might be a case of the Old Bait and Switch because AFTER

they made those claims they decided they needed and INCREASE in Funding

 City of Cedar Rapids Proposed Budget

1. Page 5 of 12
2. Library – Library submitted $1.5M in expenditure increases to support the downtown and westside libraries and $436K in revenue increases for a net requested increase of $1.1M. Already included in the Library budget for fiscal year 2014 is $277K in additional expenditure budget for wage and benefit increases for existing employees bringing the total net increase to $1.36M. 

Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 2:11 AM CST
Updated: Friday, 6 November 2015 2:24 AM CST
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