Ballot issue seeks to establish regional library district

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

Voters will have a chance to say yea or nay in November to the idea of a regional library district.

The district is being proposed as a funding solution for Fort Collins libraries, which have suffered budget cuts in recent years. The libraries are currently funded out of the city's general fund.

If approved, a library district would change the way Fort Collins libraries are funded by establishing a new property tax. The ballot issue asks to establish a 3-mill tax within the proposed district, at a cost of about $60 per year for a home assessed at $250,000. Business owners would pay more than three times that rate on their real and personal property. It is estimated that the tax would generate $5.8 million to $6 million per year.

Tax revenues from the proposed district would pay for the current library budget and allow a southeast branch to open. Fort Collins currently has enough money to build a southeast library but no funds to operate it. District revenues would also restore library cuts made since 2002, which have totaled about $500,000.

Cuts made in recent years include reduction in operating hours, the elimination of community book drops, fewer funds for acquiring new books and materials and fewer programs and services, including a cut in children's story hours.

The district would be governed by a board of directors. District boundaries would include most of Poudre School District, plus the south end of Fort Collins' Growth Management Area, which is in the Thompson School District. Communities with existing libraries may opt out of any new library district, and both Wellington and Red Feather Lakes have chosen to do so.

Even without the participation of those two communities, the property tax base of the proposed library district would be larger than the current funding base. District proponents point out that the cost of operating the libraries would be shared by more people, including those who live outside Fort Collins and use the city libraries.

According to library director Brenda Carns, about 15,000 current library users are not Fort Collins residents.

A tax-funded library district would save Fort Collins about $3.5 million per year, money currently budgeted for the two public libraries in the city.

Who will vote?

Residents within the proposed library district service area will vote on this issue. The boundaries encompass most of Poudre School District, plus the south end of Fort Collins' growth management area, which extends roughly to Carpenter Road. People who live within the town of Wellington and within the Red Feather Mountain Library District will not vote because those areas are outside the boundary.