Now's the Time

The February All Point Bulletin has a FOPRL New Library column with a longer version of fundraising progress (p. 13).  So, if this isn't clear enough, I send you there.

We're aiming to raise the $300,000 that the levy would have produced, and we're asking that all the library supporters here on the Point donate the amount they would have paid in additional property taxes IF the levy had passed with 60% of the vote.  (As you probably remember, it had 55% yes votes, but required 60%).  AND, we have initially a $34,000 matching grant offered by the Fundraising Committee to get that off to a good start.

We need to gather this money quickly so that we can still get the building contract out to bid in the spring.  Immediately after the election's unhappy results for the library, we received commitments of over $100,000. from a small number of generous residents.  In the two months since, that total grew to almost half of what we need (counting all the cash and pledge commitments in hand.)   We are talking with WCLS about support from them with respect to at least some of that second half, but first we need the broader community to step up.  If you now donate to FOPRL what you would have paid in additional property taxes if the levy had passed, you would be donating $100 for every $200,000 of your property assessment value.  That is: $50, for $100,000 assessed value, $100 for $200,000, $150 for $300,000, $500 for $1,000,000, etc.  Your donation is tax deductible in the U.S.

If you can donate more than that (since at this time of year, we will be challenged to reach all the full- and part-residents), please do so.  Leave your donation at the library, or mail it to FOPRL, P.O. Box 970, Point Roberts, WA 98281.  We need this new library for the community and for the future.  These are difficult times for many right now, but joining with your friends and neighbors in getting these funds raised and this library built is a commitment to a wonderful outcome for the community, not least a sparkling new library on Gulf Road. There, we can all participate in the educational and cultural garden that defines a library, a library that this community will have joined together to build.

Please mention this to your friends, neighbors, and members of groups you belong to whom we may not have otherwise reached.  This has been a long project, but we can get it done now.  Thanks for all the support you have provided over the past 5 years, and for your help in this next short run.

--Judy Ross, for the Friends of the Point Roberts Library