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In today’s tight economic times, budgeting for a library can be a challenge.

Gladstone elected officials are hoping that voters next week will pass a measure authorizing the city to take on $7.5 million in municipal bonds to help pay for construction of a $10 million library.

Proponents say a new library is needed because the existing one is severely inadequate. Opponents don’t argue that point, but say the city simply can’t afford what is being proposed.

Gladstone Mayor Wade Byers said the measure won’t cost taxpayers a thing.

鈥淩esidents currently pay 39 cents per $1,000 for a small, old library,鈥� Byers said. 鈥淚f we build a new library they’re going to pay 39 cents per $1,000. So I’ve struggled to understand their opposition.鈥�

Byers referred to a property tax that Clackamas County voters approved in 2008 for the creation of a library district. That money covers operations at 14 libraries in the county; in fiscal year 2011-2012, Gladstone’s library received $547,000.

Gary Barth, business and community services director for the county, said it had sought to transfer library operations to cities. The county eventually stopped funding the libraries, but each one received a one-time $1 million payment for capital improvements.

Three libraries are in transition. Clackamas County is handing the Hoodland Public Library to the city of Sandy and the Sunnyside library to Happy Valley. The third, Oak Grove, is being closed and then merged with Gladstone’s under a new roof.

The county issued Gladstone $1.5 million more for construction. The bulk of Oak Grove’s annual library district money ($974,000 last year) would also be diverted to Gladstone.

Measure 3-413 would not issue any additional taxes, but instead use existing dollars and reallocated ones from the city of Gladstone urban renewal area and the general fund, to service the debt. On a 15- to 20-year repayment plan, the total cost after interest would run between $12.6 million and $13.6 million.

鈥淭he opposition is not to a library,鈥� said Kim Sieckmann, a Gladstone resident associated with Save Gladstone, which opposes the measure. 鈥淭he opposition is to this plan 鈥� they’re going to go in debt for this library. Well, with no new taxes that means they’re going to have to take it out of other places like the general fund and the urban renewal district. In the last several years, there has been no extra money in these funds. They’ve been used up every year. So that means there are things that are being done today that over the next 15 to 20 years of the debt will not be getting done.鈥�

For instance, Sieckmann said Gladstone’s water, sewer and road systems are in need of upgrades. He said that infrastructure repairs should be considered alongside a new library.

Earlier this year, Save Gladstone hired a private accounting firm, Acuity Group PLLC of Vancouver, Wash., to vet the city’s library budget. The company released its report in October.

鈥淏ased on the city’s historical operating results and the projected library budget, this plan looks reasonable,鈥� the report stated. 鈥淗owever, the city’s future economic outlook, a closer review of the library fund budget, and the city’s future capital cost requirements cause concern that this plan may not be feasible.鈥�

Residents have vied for a new library for the better part of the past decade. JoAnna Rood, interim head librarian for the Gladstone library, said she can recall the issue being decided by voters in at least three past elections over the past 22 years.

The existing library is more than 50 years old; at approximately 5,500 square feet, it’s one of the county’s smallest, Rood said. Byers said it serves approximately 12,000 Gladstone residents and 8,000 to 9,000 others who live in unincorporated areas.

Rood said it has four computers, virtually no room for children’s programs and is simply overcrowded. She said many people mistakenly think that with the advent of the Internet, libraries have become obsolete. Smartphones may be used now for simple fact searching, she said, but libraries provide free professional services, resources, entertainment and social connections for people with limited means.

鈥淗ow are you going to apply for jobs if you’ve lost a job and have no Internet?鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is a real need. (What about) immigrant people just moving into the country 鈥� people that don’t have the resources? What if your son is in Afghanistan and your Internet goes down? How will you stay in touch? You don’t need it until you need it 鈥� and when you need it, it better be there.鈥�

The new 18,000-square-foot library would service approximately 48,000 people and has already cost the city approximately $1.19 million in planning and design fees 鈥� a sum it will not recover if the project were to stall. It would have moved ahead, but a new charter amendment enacted this year requires voter approval for any public project that either costs more than $1 million or results in the city incurring debt.

If voters were to reject Measure 3-413, the city of Gladstone also would have to return $1.5 million to the county.

Amy Masgai, a board member for the Gladstone Public Library Foundation, thinks the new library would be a community anchor. She envisions it hosting things like Christmas tree lightings. She hopes voters will recognize the urgency of the situation.

鈥淭he city can afford it and in fact this is our only opportunity to afford it,鈥� she said. 鈥淐lackamas County redirected funding to Gladstone to build this. If we don’t get it through, we’re going to lose that funding and we’re going to lose the opportunity.鈥�