Library plan calls for $22.6 million in new buildings

The Flathead County Library System’s new facilities master plan calls for construction of new libraries in Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Bigfork at a cost that could reach about $22.6 million.

The master plan’s recommendations were presented by ImagineIF Libraries director Kim Crowley during a June 5 workshop with library and library foundation boards.

Work on the master-plan study began last fall with Himmel & Wilson Library Consultants conducting site inspections and examining library patron usage data to determine future space needs for the main library and the system’s three branches.

The existing facilities in Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Bigfork are undersized and lack parking, the consultants’ report stated. Their recommendation was based on a standard of 0.7 square feet of public library space per capita.

The Kalispell library’s service area currently offers 0.45 square feet per capita, well below the benchmark, and “in 20 years if we do nothing, it would drop to 0.36 square feet per capita,” Crowley said.

Both library boards are looking at funding alternatives, but it could be a long time before any library construction takes place. Flathead County’s capital improvement plan had earmarked $16 million for a new Kalispell library in fiscal year 2017, along with $4.4 million for a new Columbia Falls library and $2.2 million for a new Bigfork library.

Those allocations now have been rolled over to 2020, according to county finance director Sandy Carlson said. They were bumped to the next five-year capital improvement plan because the county commissioners weren’t sure the funding would be available for the plan that extends through 2019, she said. A public-private partnership or other new funding arrangement might help the commissioners reconsider the capital improvement plan.

Himmel & Wilson’s report recommends a funding scenario of one-third private money and two-thirds public funding. It also suggested adding a 3 percent inflation factor to the total construction cost for each year beyond 2014.