Cook library adds cash to kitty for expansion

Using money in savings, Cook Memorial Public Library District officials are investing more money in a long-awaited expansion project.

The library board Tuesday agreed to increase the budget for the two-site proposal to $14 million from $12 million and it authorized its architects to create designs within that budget.

An estimated $7 million will be spent enlarging the main library on Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville and almost another $7 million will fund the construction of a new library on Aspen Drive in Vernon Hills.

Officials initially planned to spend about $6 million at each site.

The board voted 6-1 to increase the budget. Ann Oakley opposed the plan, saying she had reservations about adding onto the initial plan.

The project's budget is able to swell because the district finished the 2007 fiscal year with a $2.2 million in special reserves that can be used on the effort, Director Dan Armstrong said.

Additionally, the board should have an extra $1 million in savings this year because that sum was budgeted for the expansion project but not actually used, Armstrong said.

Of that $3.2 million total, about $1 million will be set aside as a contingency fund to cover any surprise costs, Armstrong said.

The extra money allows officials to offer expanded services at both facilities and representatives from Gilfillan Callahan Nelson Architects reviewed the proposals at the meeting.

The main library -- now about 33,000 square feet -- will gain about 11,200 square feet, according to plans. The new library in Vernon Hills will be about 20,000 square feet.

Preliminary plans for the main library call for youth services department to move upstairs from the basement, a third floor dedicated to nonfiction materials, a quiet reading room, a rooftop garden and other features.

Plans for the Vernon Hills library include small conference rooms, a public meeting room and space for 120,000 materials.

The library board had agreed to borrow $12 million for the project and it intends to use annual budget surpluses to pay it back. The expansion of the effort will not require a larger loan or a voter-approved, tax rate increase, officials said.