The next Stony Point Town Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 7:00pm at the Rho Building located at 5 Clubhouse Lane, Stony Point.
To view the agenda, please click on the link below:
Tomkins Cove
Tomkins Cove is a hamlet in the Town of Stony Point, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Stony Point; east of Harriman State Park; south of Doodletown and west of the Hudson River. It is located north-northwest of New York City. The population is approximately 1,739 and the ZIP Code is 10986.
Stony Point Board to meet July 12th
The next Stony Point Town Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 7:00pm at the Rho Building located at 5 Clubhouse Lane, Stony Point.
To view the agenda, please click on the link below:
ROSE MEMORIAL LIBRARY FINALIZES FUNDING REQUEST
STONY POINT, NY – July 1, 2022 – On Thursday, June 30, the Board of Rose Memorial Library Association approved putting a measure on the November 8 ballot that would provide additional funding for the library through a one-time increase of $1,475,000. The increase provides for an ongoing annual operating budget of $1,800,000 from the Town of Stony Point. The requested amount was finalized after months of consultation with financial advisors, architects and engineers. If approved by voters, the additional funding would be used for purchasing, renovating, and operating a new, larger library facility at the historic schoolhouse at 117 West Main Street in Stony Point.
The $1.8 million annually will cover the increased operating costs consistent with a larger library program and debt service, which includes the $1.425 million purchase and $8.0 million renovation of the historic 1895 schoolhouse. Alice Meacham, Director of Rose Memorial said, “We have and will continue to approach this project with incredible care, thoughtfulness and attention to detail. The funding request that has been decided upon achieves the Board’s desire to be exceedingly financially responsible, while still creating the library and gathering place the residents of Stony Point both need and deserve.”
When broken down, the funding request for 2023 is $3.78 total per $1,000 of assessed home value for homestead parcels and $8.96 total per $1,000 of assessed value for non-homestead parcels. For example, a home currently assessed at $40,000 would pay $151.20 next year for library taxes. Assessed home values can be found via the 2022 Final Assessment Roll on the Town of Stony Point site at https://www.townofstonypoint.org/departments/assessors-office. This funding would be collected through Town of Stony Point taxes. School taxes would not be affected by the project whatsoever.
While this request is much higher than the amount requested in 2017 under a prior Board and Director, that ballot question failed in part due to a general recognition that it had not been fully thought through. Meacham notes that it did not include a full estimate for construction costs or appropriate operating costs. The 2022 amount takes into account recent inflation and includes everything, down to a microwave for the staff room. The requested increase is sufficient for debt service as well as proper operation of the Town’s new library through at least 2033.
The new library facility would include: up-to-date meeting rooms available for free use by local community groups; a dedicated safe, supervised space for tweens and teens; outdoor learning spaces; a local history archive; an early literacy space for children 0-6 and their families; quiet study rooms for remote work, tutoring sessions, study groups, and small meetings; ample parking; ADA accessibility; and a hands-on learning programming room.
Final purchase and renovation of the building is contingent upon funding approved through a public vote. The first step is collecting enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. The petition for signatures will be circulated in Stony Point by town residents throughout July. After qualifying, a funding referendum will be placed before the Stony Point voters on November 8, 2022.
For more information and to keep up with all the details on this project, please visit https://www.rosememoriallibrary.org/petition/.
Stony Point Board to meet June 28th
The next Stony Point Town Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 7:00pm at the Rho Building located at 5 Clubhouse Lane, Stony Point.
To view the agenda, please click on the link below:
Rose Memorial Libary Board responds to Stony Point Supervisor’s statements
Rose Memorial Library takes its role as a steward of the Town of Stony Point’s trust and financial investment very seriously. Some stories are going around about the potential cost of buying, renovating, and operating the former Stony Point school house at 117 W Main Street as the new library and center for gathering, learning and creating for town residents. The Library Board is interested in focusing on the facts:
● Rose Memorial Library has entered into a contingency contract to purchase 117 W Main St. on June 4, 2022 at a price of $1.425 million, contingent upon funding approval by the voters of Stony Point on the November ballot.
● That $1.425 million purchase price is the only concrete figure that is currently decided. All other figures and the annual budget will be determined, broken down for transparency, and shared widely, by the beginning of July. That amount will be legally locked-in as soon as the petition for signatures to get the referendum on the ballot is released.
● The actual cost to renovate the building is currently being determined by a professional estimator. However, two separate architecture/engineering teams with hundreds of library projects under their belts gave rough estimates of $8 million dollars, for everything from construction to parking lot to landscaping to furniture, after touring the building and property.
● Rose Memorial Library will not move forward on a construction project that was going to cost more than $8 million. It is neither a reasonable nor responsible ask of Stony Pointers and we know that.
● The amount requested for the project on the November ballot will include operating costs of the building. The operational costs are not yet determined.
● Rose Memorial Library is looking into NY State Library Construction grants, SAM facilities grants, sustainable energy grants, historic preservation grants, and private donations to offset as much of the cost as possible.
● This proposal is going directly through the Town of Stony Point. School taxes will not be impacted by this project whatsoever.
● Rose Memorial Library is not only the smallest library in Rockland County, but has the lowest funding, per capita, in the county. This town is being underserved by our current building and operations.
The Board of the Rose Memorial Library is concerned by recent statements by Supervisor Jim Monaghan that the project will cost $15 million. None of the figures Supervisor Monaghan cited in his recent post on social media are accurate or verified. We are troubled by any insinuation that the library project would somehow negatively impact schools or public safety. Libraries are an asset to a community, not a liability. Expanded library services and programming, updated public gathering spaces, and the restoration of a prominent historic building in the center of town will have a positive impact on our community. Rose Memorial Library is currently at capacity for many of our programs and are actively turning people away because we do not have the space to serve more residents of Stony Point. The demand is there, and we are trying to meet it.