RICHMOND — The town’s bid for a grant to help pay for a new public library has been rejected, leaving barely more than $220,000 to replace the former Umberhine Public Library torn down in March.

The library is operating in rented space at 164 Main St.

Town officials hope to be able to build a library with available funds rather than ask residents to come up with new money that would risk a property tax increase.

“We’ve got to look at what $220,000 can get us and see what we can build for that,” Selectmen Daniel Dutton said. “Anything over that is going to be a tax increase. Let’s see if we can build something better than we have now, but without adding expenses at this time. I want to make going to the town for more money the last option.”

Town Manager Marian Anderson said she and others would look through existing library plans and come up with something to put out to bid, then report back to selectmen on the costs.

She noted the town can reject bids if they come in too high.

But some, including library advocate Judy Batty, expressed concern that $220,000 won’t be enough to build an adequate library that also meets municipal building codes and requirements.

Selectman Clarence Cummins agreed with Dunton about not wanting to seek money from taxpayers, but said the amount of money now available will only pay for a library about the size of the current rented space — 1,200 square feet — or perhaps a poorly built structure, such as an annex that was added 20 years ago to the old library, which later fell apart.

Selectman Jennifer Greenleaf agreed.

“It’s going to be really hard to come in under that kind of budget with a commercial building, unless it’s extremely small,” she said.

The $220,000 held by the town for the project came primarily from the endowment of the previous library, which was independent of the town. Residents voted in 2010 in favor of the town taking over management of the library.

Plans for a new library aren’t new in Richmond. At Town Meeting in 2008, voters agreed to allow the town to borrow $300,000 if the remainder of the money to build a new library were raised within three years. That was for a much more ambitious plan, since shelved, to construct a $1.2 million library.

This summer, the town applied for a $400,000 Communities for Maine’s Future state grant to help fund construction of a new library. But Richmond wasn’t awarded the grant.

Cummins said the grant program received 33 applications, totaling $8.5 million, but only had money available to fund 11 of them, for about $4 million.

“There just wasn’t enough money,” Cummins said.

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com