As everyone is aware, during the last municipal election just under 64 per cent of voters were not in favour of any library expansion. It now appears that the St. Albert Public Library (SAPL) Board and by extension, the city, mayor and city council have decided to skate around the plebiscite, albeit non-binding, to open a storefront library in St. Albert’s north end. The space in question would likely need to be retrofitted to meet the library’s needs and would require an initial estimated capital investment of $517,000. Operating expenses would come in at $279,225 for 2019 and $382,300 for 2020.
Given that the SAPL primarily relies on city funding and to a much lesser extent donations it would seem this circumvention is likely to be an expense that will be ultimately borne by the St. Albert taxpayers. Perhaps prior to increasing the SAPL budget yet again all parties involved named above should carefully consider the following comparisons. While they detail 2016 data, SAPL is by far not the leader of the pack. Enough said.
Paul Dill, St. Albert
