Bonnie Eslinger, The Examiner
2007-02-10 11:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

SAN FRANCISCO -

San Francisco’s library building improvement program is behind schedule and over budget, but The City’s head librarian said he believes most of the work promised to voters can be completed.

Predominantly funded by a $106 million improvement bond approved by San Francisco voters in 2000, the ambitious $141 million program was originally scheduled to have 19 branch renovations and four full construction projects completed by 2009.

Due to escalating construction costs, some projects may be delayed, City Librarian Luis Herrera said.

“All projects are still a go, but I think until we identify some additional sources of funding, they could be rescheduled,” Herrera said. “It’s been more expensive than we anticipated.”

Herrera said his experts have estimated that the entire project could end up being up to $50 million over budget.

“I’m trying to be up front,” he said. “It could range from $34 million to $50 million.”

Herrera spoke to The Examiner on Friday, the day before the grand reopening of the newly refurbished West Portal Branch, the second renovation project to be completed under the improvement program.

In addition to seismic improvements, the branch library also has a new elevator for people with disabilities — as well as moms with big strollers — new bathrooms, staff work areas, floors, paint, landscaping and a new teen area. New Hewlett-Packard computers sit atop library tables from the 1930s that have been refurbished.

Four other branches — Marina, Noe Valley, Sunset and Western Addition — are closed for similar renovation projects. However, others that were scheduled to begin construction last year remain in waiting, and several branch projects have been taken off the timetable — Bayview, North Beach and Ortega.

Herrera said he didn’t want to name specific branch projects that might be put on hold until more funding is secured, since he plans to present his recommendations to the Library Commission on Thursday.

He did suggest that if a project was put off, it might eventually come back as a new construction project, instead of a renovation.

“We might be looking at a new library … Ortega, for example, comes to mind, rather than a renovation,” Herrera said.

Already, more than $5.1 million has been taken out of the library system’s general fund to cover unexpected overages associated with the branch library improvement program. Herrera said the transfer wouldn’t affect library hours or staffing, since the funds have come from a reserve built up by a Library Preservation Fund, approved by voters in 1994.

That budget baseline provision is scheduled to go back to the voters in 2009, and Herrera said he hopes that having most of the improvements completed by that time will boost the goodwill of those going to the ballot box.

“When they see the renovations … the tangible results of the bond measure, I think they’ll want to really support the [library’s] operations and stable funding for it,” Herrera said.