A multimillion-dollar proposal to make improvements to Cape Elizabeth’s town library is coming back to voters, but the project won’t cost taxpayers as much money as a 2012 plan would have.

The Cape Elizabeth Town Council, in a unanimous decision last month, voted to authorize a Nov. 4 bond question asking voters to borrow up to $4 million to renovate and expand the Thomas Memorial Library.

That figure is $2 million less than the cost of the 2012 library proposal, which called for voters to approve funding for a new town library.

Town Councilor Molly MacAuslan, who served as chairwoman of the Library Building Committee, said her committee made an effort to gather feedback from all the town’s residents in its latest effort to promote modernizing the library. She introduced the proposal at the Town Council’s Aug. 11 meeting.

“The last thing we wanted was to deliver a proposal that failed to meet residents’ needs and expectations and which was too expensive and out of character with the library’s environment and with the town culture,” Mac- Auslan said at the August meeting.

The library’s condition hasn’t changed much in two years. The library still suffers from structural weaknesses, mold, poor air quality and access is difficult for seniors, parents with strollers and disabled patrons – all problems identified as issues prior to the 2012 bond vote.

Despite those deficiencies, residents voted 3,566 to 2,696 against borrowing $6 million. Citizens who commented on the 2012 proposal did indicate that some work needed to be done.

In February 2013, the Town Council established the Library Planning Committee and charged it with taking a “fresh look” at seeking public input and considering lower cost alternatives.

On Dec. 9, 2013, the Town Council established a five-member Library Building Committee to develop a building plan for renovating the library within the $4 million budget recommended by the Library Planning Committee.

Councilors also voted last month – the same night as the bond ballot vote – to make $350,000 available from the town’s contingency fund.

Town officials said $200,000 would be used to pay for any unforeseen expenses above and beyond the $4 million borrowed by the town while the remaining $150,000 would pay for expenses associated with creating a temporary town library at the Spurwink School.

Town Manager Mike McGovern told the Town Council that the $200,000 – if it’s needed – would have to be taken out of the municipal budget.

“It’s our hope that we won’t need that money,” he said.

Reed & Co. Architecture worked with the Library Building Committee on designing a new library.

The plan calls for replacing the 1985 connector building between the main and children’s library with a new, two-story, 11,000-square-foot structure.

The existing main library – the former 1912 Pond Cove School annex – would be renovated and the children’s library, which is currently housed in the former Spurwink School, would move to the lower level of the new building.

Plans also include a new 53-space parking lot. Special features would include an outdoor children’s garden and play area, and a glassed-in stairwell at the center of the north wall in the Pond Cove annex. The stairwell could be lit at night, acting as a beacon for the library, according to information posted on the town of Cape Elizabeth’s website.