Third time’s the charm: Williston approves library bond
The Congregational Church in Williston Village, near the town library. Photo: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
On the third try, Williston said yes. Voters on Tuesday approved a $9 million bond to renovate and expand the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, 3,177 to 2,844, according to unofficial results. That’s 52.7 percent to 47.2 percent, a margin of 333 votes in a town that has spent most of 2026 arguing about this building.
How it got here
The library question has been on the ballot three times this year. In March, on Town Meeting Day, a narrow majority approved a larger plan with a price near $14.5 million. Weeks later, residents petitioned for a reconsideration vote, and in May a narrow majority rescinded the approval.
The coalition that organized against the first plan objected mostly to the cost. Some critics also said a two-story addition didn’t fit the character of Williston Village. At the time, Town Manager Erik Wells estimated the owner of a median $300,000 home would pay about $120 a year toward the debt.
Town and library leaders spent the summer holding forums and meeting with residents. What came out of that is a smaller project, cut by about $5.5 million.
“We think that this project really has tried to meet that middle ground where people maybe don’t get everything that they want,” Library Director Kevin Unrath told WPTZ in October.
This time the question rode on the back of the general election ballot, which went out by mail to every registered voter in early October under Vermont’s universal mail voting law. Residents could mail them back, use the drop box outside Town Hall, or bring them to the National Guard Armory next door on Election Day. With a full general election ballot on the front, this vote drew from a much broader slice of the town than a standalone library question would.
What voters approved
The revised plan adds a one-story, roughly 7,900-square-foot wing on the north side of the building instead of the two-story addition proposed in March. Plans from Black River Design Architects include more room for the collection, separate spaces for children and teens, a community meeting room that can be used after hours, basement storage, three new restrooms and a more accessible entrance.
Several pieces of the original plan are gone: upgrades to the Town Green, a new parking lot, and traffic changes around the library and Williston Central School. The new wing will still extend about 45 feet onto the Village Green, which means some trees will come down, including the large tree near the current entrance, to realign parking on Library Lane.
The total project is estimated at about $9.875 million. The bond covers $9 million. The library’s Board of Trustees is raising the rest privately, and Unrath said in October that about $800,000 had already been committed.
What it costs taxpayers
Wells has estimated the revised bond will add roughly $6 to $9 a month to the property tax bill on a median home. The final figure depends on interest rates when the town sells the bonds, which won’t happen right away.
“We don’t know what the interest rate will be on these bonds till we actually sell them a year and a half, two years from now,” Wells told WPTZ.
What happens next
Town officials expect final design work to take about a year. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2028. The town will then have to decide how to structure the debt and time the bond sale to match the construction schedule.
The library stays open in its current building in the meantime. Residents who want to follow the project can find drawings and updates on the library project website and through the town.
For a town of about 10,000 people, the vote ends a long fight. A 333-vote margin isn’t a mandate, and the split shows how divided residents still are about spending on public buildings while property taxes keep rising across Vermont. But the question has finally been answered, and the library can move on to design.
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