Heermance Memorial Library denied grant funding
COXSACKIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Nearly 5 million dollars is headed to Coxsackie. It's all a part of a state grant that will help boost economic development in the capital region. NEWS10 looked at who's applying for the money.
5 million dollars is a lot of money. The Village Mayor, Mark Evans, says the library was looking forward to turning a new page with the new funds. “The library did have a project that got put in. Unfortunately, it was not very well flushed out. the project number changed right at the end,” said the mayor.
The library was looking to become more accessible and ADA compliant as they serve more than 10,000 patrons a year. Pre-pandemic, the library would see more than 15,000 patrons a year. They applied to the village board for financial help through the grant process.
“We were advised to lower our ask to increase our chances of being considered so we did lower that with the consideration that we were looking into another grant,” said Catherine Benson, Library Director.
The Heermance Memorial Library has been a part of the Coxsackie landscape for more than a century, helping the community stay connected through books and outreach programs.
“We offer the one-on-one help with technology for electronics, identifying community resources. We have the resources to help people and make connections in the community and it's for people with your regular Patron or just passing through it's open to everybody to you it's a community resource,” said Benson.
They also take on food drives and host historical study programs among other community services. Mayor Evans says he supports the library. Although this state grant is no longer an option, they don't have to close the book on funding.
“There's a lot of other avenues the library can pursue for funding so we thought they should probably pursue those and then they can always go back and look for some funding from the state,” said Evans.
“I don't want to have my taxes increased exorbitantly so and we're a small library with a small budget, so, we work within our means,” responded Benson.
Click here for a list of projects to be funded by the grant.