DUMMERSTON — Voters at a special Town Meeting last Wednesday gave their approval to having the town buy the former regional library building from the state, and then immediately selling it to the Southeastern Vermont Learning Collaborative, the building's current tenant.
By a 39-3 margin, the town got the go-ahead to buy the one-story, 7,000 square-foot brick building on Route 5 from the state for $45,000, and then sell it to the collaborative for the same price.
While the final approval was nearly unanimous, the nearly 90-minute meeting was dominated by concerns over the deal's impact on property taxes and whether the town should hang on to the building and continue to lease it to the collaborative.
Selectboard chairman Andrew MacFarland said the state built the library in 1967, and closed it in 2000 as part of a round of budget cuts. At that time, the town arranged to lease the building from the state for $1 a year.
In 2002, the town began to sublet the building to the Southeastern Vermont Learning Collaborative, a nonprofit that serves Windham and Windsor counties and provides courses and other training for educators.
The building also hosts the Osher Lifelong Learning lecture series, and is the home base for the Windham County Reads bookmobile.
“We could do some of what we do now elsewhere,” said Casey Murrow, the director of the collaborative, “but this building is an incredible resource for us. If we can buy this building, we can move forward with providing a regional service.”
The state decided to sell the building last year and gave Dummerston the first chance to buy it at a below-market price. According to the town Listers, the building is currently appraised at $468,000.
Selectboard member Greg Brown, who did much of the work explaining the deal to voters at the meeting, said the town doesn't need the extra space and doesn't want to be a landlord.
“The collaborative is interested in staying there, so it seemed to the Selectboard to be a logical use for the building,” said Brown. “The board has had a good working relationship with them, so it seems reasonable to sell it to them.”
At the same time, Brown said the state does not allow towns to profit from the sale of surplus property.
The building does not now generate tax revenue for the town, but Brown said the town and the collaborative are discussing what annual payment in lieu of property tax would be paid by the collaborative. He pointed out that over the past decade, the state has paid a total of only $4,950 to the town.
Town Clerk Pam McFadden said at fair market value, the property tax would be about $7,000. The estimated annual payment to the town by the collaborative would probably be around $5,500.
Brown said that - according to the purchase agreement - the collaborative has a deed restriction to sell the property back to the state if it is no longer interested in owning the building. The state has first right of refusal at the same asking price as the original price. If the state declines, the town has second right of refusal.
The collaborative will also be paying the legal fees and closing costs of the deal, Brown said. The closing date has been tentatively set for Nov. 15.