Provincial money speeds up project

The Jasper Municipal Library, which moved into the former RCMP headquarters in 1975, will be getting a substantial upgrade earlier than expected as a result of a major funding announcement held last week in Penhold, AB. 

Slated to be approved in the 2011 municipal capital budget, the $4.5 million library expansion, which will see 6,185 square feet added to the heritage building, will now go ahead as early as next year, according to the municipality. 

In total, $3 million has been apportioned to Jasper with $1.5 million coming from the federal government’s Economic Action Plan and another $1.5 million from the Alberta Capital Plan. 

“It’s excellent news... it looks very encouraging,” said municipal manager George Krefting regarding the funding announcement. “The library expansion will offer more space, better facilities and improved programs,” said Mayor Richard Ireland. “It’s great news for our community and great news for our residents’ commitment to life-long learning.” 

The municipality, along with a $300,000 fundraising commitment from the library board, will have to come up with an additional $1.5 million to complete the project.

Director of finance and administration Alice Lettner is confident that the municipality will have adequate funds to cover the town’s portion of the project. 

“We’ve gone back and looked at the grants and the capital building projects we have on the books and we still feel that even with the reduced MSI (Municipal Sustainability Initiative) funding, that what we’ll do is probably stretch out some of the capital projects ... either put them on hold or instead of completing them all in one year, complete them over two years and that makes cash flow a little easier to manage,” Lettner said. 

Judy Krefting, director of library services, is “very excited,” and a “little nervous,” she joked, regarding the announcement. Included in the renovations and expansion will be more space for programing, an area for the French resource centre and generally more space so people can enjoy the library and tailor their use to individual needs, such as wireless Internet access, said Krefting. “All of those things are still in the plans,” she said. 

Even with the 37 per cent decrease in MSI funding this year, the municipality will not be on the hook until at least 2011, when the project was supposed to commence. “What we will do, is because it’s a $4.5 million project, we can start it this year ... so that when we receive the grant, we can basically expend the grant and then move our cash flow into it at the latter part of the program,” said Lettner. The municipality will be on the hook, but not this year, she said. 

The library, which welcomed upwards of 30,000 people last year will retain its historical integrity when the project is finished, said the municipality’s news release.