Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's budget address on February 18 will be watched carefully by at least one group in Galesburg.
The city’s public library board hopes to hear something positive about funding for its new building. It would be built at West Main and Academy Streets and will cost an estimated $22 million dollars.
The board has raised $5 million of the total with the state promising to pay the rest.
But board member Guy Cahill said there is no guarantee on when the $17 million in state money will arrive.
He said it is possible the governor could freeze construction spending. Cahill said if that happened, the library board might look to other funding sources for the project. He pointed out the current building was erected without state money.
“The original Carnegie Library, if you will, was built in almost equal parts philanthropic donation on the part of Andrew Carnegie and the city of Galesburg,” Cahill said.
Cahill said he also wants to be in a position for the library to purchase the remaining land it needs for the new building.
“We have appraisals on all the parcels that we need to acquire. We have a strategy that the board has adopted as to what parcels to seek next. And we’re in the process of identifying a broker, if you will, an intermediary, to work with the library and meeting with property owners to get a feel for what kind of offer will be necessary to acquire the properties,” Cahill said.
The library currently owns only one-fourth of the land needed for the new building.
