Reader considers library proposal too costly

It appears the expansion plans for the Moses Lake Public Library are moving forward. The CBH Editorial Board recently stated that a good  library is a great community asset, which is true, however this proposal is too costly.

The existing library has about 27,000 SF (square feet). The new proposal will add about 20,000 SF, at an estimated cost of around $7-9 million. Using $8 million as a price tag, let's assume $1 million is budgeted to renovate the old building, leaving about $7 million for the new structure. That's a total cost of $400/SF which is exorbitant. That is in the same price range as the Moses Lake School Bond that was recently rejected by voters. Unless the cost of public projects like this are reduced, voters will continue to reject them. Recent stories about cities, states, and even nations going bankrupt should be a wakeup call to citizens that public overspending cannot be tolerated.

Here are a couple of local cost comparisons to consider: Five new 4,000 SF luxury homes would be about the same size of the proposed library (20,000 SF). Those 5 new homes on premium property in Moses Lake would cost about $700,000 each ($3.5 million for all 5) and that includes the land! That's a bargain compared to the library which will cost twice that amount. If you don't think that's a fair comparison, then look at the newly completed Quincy library. It's a beautiful, 9,700 SF brick facility that was recently built for $1.3 million, or less than half the SF cost of the Moses Lake Library proposal. Based on these 2 examples, our new library should not cost more than $4 million.

The library expansion is a great idea but this proposal is too expensive for our community.  A high quality library can be built to suit our needs for less than $200/SF. There is no justifiable reason why we should spend twice that amount.

Gary Ash

Moses Lake