Quote:
Originally Posted by C-Bass
What I cannot figure out, is if these people want the community center so badly, why don't they start some kind of fund or trust. They can begin raising some money. Ultimately it will cost the town in yearly upkeep and staff. I personally would not object to that, I don't think that would blow the budget out of the water. If the money could be raised to pay for the construction of the building and not have any bond to deal with. You would not have any objections from me. My understanding in Tuftonboro, they are doing their library addition. They had raised some money towards it and in fact I had heard they had a single donation of $500,000. It passed their town meeting and they got the go ahead. That may be a better way to go.
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Unfortunately, in Moultonborough the Rec Dept can only think in terms of using OPM or taxpayer money. On various occasions the idea of raising money has been suggested and has always been turned down vehently by the gym proponents. The Nick in Wolfeboro was done with donations as was the new facility in Fryeburg and the Moultonborough Library had $700,000 raised by private donations. In spite of these facts, the gym advocates, especially the Rec Dept director, the just defeated selectman, and their backers are adamant that they are entitled to an expensive unjustified facility.
It would be nice if an unbiased group could be established to do a true needs analysis study. This approach is unlikely since the gym people would want such a group made up of people who are predisposed to having a gym. There is a need for a better community center but the need for additional facilities such as gym requires further analysis.