Cost to relocate Lunenburg library doubles to $500K

The cost of relocating thelibrary in Lunenburg, N.S.,to a historic building in the community has doubled to $500,000 andone councilloradmits he's not sure where the money to pay for the move will come from.

The figure up from the original estimate of $250,000 is contained in Lunenburg's capital budget for 2017-18, which has been passed by town council.

Coun.John McGee said the townunderestimated how much it would costto movethelibrary to the Lunenburg Academy, whichdatesback to 1895.

"We had to pay engineers to tell us that the floor needed further support in order to handle the load the library would put on it," said McGee.

"Andof coursethere was the cost of doing that work which added to our costs as well."

A pricey move

McGee saidinitially he wasn't sure if any money would berequired to move the library across town.

We're only 2,300 people. How can we afford to spend half a million dollars to move the library?- Coun. John McGee

"We thought that they would just move in and just use it the way it was," hesaid.

"But then an architect was hired to design what the new library would look like and I'm sure that added a lot to the new estimates as well."

The councillor said he wonders where the money will come from to pay for the move.

"We're only 2,300 people. How can we afford to spend half a million dollars to move the library?"

Government support requested

The town has applied for government supportandcouncil has discussed selling the current librarybuilding which McGee said is estimated to be worth between $250,000 and $300,000 to help offset the cost of relocating.

McGee is also hopefulthe Municipality of the District of Lunenburg will contributeto the cost, noting that county residents use the library more frequently than people who live in the town.

"The library does maintain statistics about who their members are," said McGee.

Academy 'historically very important'

McGee said housingthe newlibrary in the academy will be "a great asset to the town" thatcould drawpeople to the area.

The Lunenburg library is one of four libraries run by the South Shore Regional Library Board.

Underthe Nova Scotia Library Act, all operational costssuch as programming, staffing and books are covered mostly by the province. The municipality is on the hook for all capital costs including building space.

While the boardwill ensure books are physically moved to the new space and pay for any new furniture and equipment, chair Troy Myerssaid there isn't any provincial money available for renovations.

That being said, the board supports the move to the academy, said Myers.

"It's a historically very important building, not just to Nova Scotia but to the entire country in my opinion," he said.

• Province promises $1M to restore Lunenburg Academy
• Lunenburg wants makeover for grand old building, but needs $2.3M to do it