FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It's been a little over a month since a small fire struck the Fayetteville Public Library, and construction crews are working to repair the building as quickly as possible.
Although library officials originally said they were expecting repairs to cost $250,000 in April, they are now estimating to pay around $1 million.
"We have to recognize the revenue, which are the checks that come from the insurance agency, get those on the books before we can have expenditures against that," David Johnson, the library's executive director, said. "It's really just an accounting procedure that says we have money coming in from the insurance companies, and that money will be spent on both the structure and on taking care of the contents."
Johnson says nothing was deducted from the library to pay for the deductible.
"We're going to find the money in our budget," he said. "There are certain places where we can pull it from. We were in the process of setting up a reserve, a contingency fund for exactly this type of event. And we have a contingency that set aside for reserves for the furniture and things like that. We were building up that reserve fund ... in case we had an emergency."
Here's the breakdown of costs and repairs.
- Restoring the structural damage to the building will cost $590,000.
- The deductible for the building is $100,000.
- To restore the library's contents, including library furniture and office equipment, will cost $450,000. The deductible is an additional $1,000.
- In total, the library will have to pay $101,000.
The library will have to cover the deductible on its own and will only receive a small amount from the city, but the majority of the revenue for the library comes from property taxes.
However, there is a way patrons can help.
"The best thing that our patrons can do for us now is help us take care of the $100,000 deductible," Johnson said.
Donations can be made through the library's website.
So far, the library has raised around $20,000. Johnson says the repairs are set to be completed during the second week of June.
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