News

Community Center fund drive now at $1,715,580

NEWPORT — Donors of the original $1 million pledge that kicked off the $3 million fundraising drive in Newport to help erect a new Community Center have been announced.

They are The Roy Malool Family Foundation and The LaValley Family Foundation. The two Foundations joined together and pledged $500,000 each.

To date, the fundraising total has reached $1,715,580.

A complete story including all the background on the Community Center project. appears in today’s issue on Page 4.

The $1 million pledge came with a challenge to raise an additional $2 million. The challenge was reinforced and ensured by the wording of Article 4, which requires a total of $3 million to be raised from donations and other sources aside from municipal taxation.

The biggest hurdle will come on Tuesday, May 14 when Newporters head to the polls for voting from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Newport Opera House. That’s when the Community Center article will appear on the Newport Town Warrant ballot requesting another $3.5 million bringing the projected project total to $6.5 million.

Article 4 on the ballot requests a total of $6.5 million to pay for the design, construction and building of the proposed new Community Center on Meadow Road.

Of that amount, $3 million will come from private donations, public and/or private grants and other sources aside from municipal taxation, and the remaining $3.5 million will come from the issuance of bonds or notes.

Article 4 will require a 3/5ths majority to pass. It has been recommended by the Newport Board of Selectmen and Newport Budget Advisory Committee.

This Article is contingent upon the receipt by the Town of Newport of at least $3 million from non-tax sources and no bonds or notes shall be issued for this purpose until and unless such funds are obtained.

Article 4 is a non-lapsing Article and will not lapse until the project is completed or by June 30, 2023, whichever is sooner.

There is no current tax impact from this article. Repayment of this debt is expected to come from general taxation and is anticipated to be budgeted in the 2021 Fiscal Year, with an estimated tax impact in that year of 72 cents, according to a note connected to Article 4.

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