ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 5, 1995                   TAG: 9505050065
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

LIBRARY BOARD PUSHES LOW BID

The Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library Board committed itself Thursday to raising $67,100 from the community to close a funding gap and launch the renovation of the Blacksburg branch library.

The library board recommended the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors accept a low construction bid of $1.98 million from Martin Bros. Contractors Inc. The Roanoke company's original bid was $2.02 million, but library representatives shaved off $36,700 by using a less-expensive type carpet and eliminating other options.

The Board of Supervisors will consider the proposal in a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Monday on the third floor of the Montgomery County Courthouse.

The $1.98 million low bid is still well above the $1.73 million budgeted for construction in last year's bond issue.

According to library staff, the total estimated cost of the Blacksburg project will be $2.45 million, including $2.3 million for actual construction and $150,000 for furnishings. So far, the Library Board has identified $2.01 million in construction funding, composed of the $1.73 million in bond money; a $109,000 federal grant; and $170,000 in budget savings.

That leaves a construction-funding shortfall of $292,000. The Library Board recommended covering the shortfall by:

Using $125,000 from Blacksburg. The town agreed to chip in on the construction cost in a contract last year that led to a swap of small amounts of land near the library between the county and Blacksburg.

Spending an estimated $100,000 in interest earned since November on the county's $4.8 million in bonds. The library's portion of that was $1.88 million. The other $2.9 million is going to build a new health and human services building in Christiansburg. The Library Board is seeking the interest earned from the money for both projects, which voters approved separately in 1993 but which were sold in one group of bonds last year.

Raising $67,100 from the community. The balance of the $300,000 fund-raising drive announced last week will go toward the $150,000 in furnishings, supplementing bond money for automating the library's checkout system and other extras. 


 by CNB