Durango’s Library Advisory Board is eager to form a library district, but City Council has other priorities – chiefly, whether the city will join Durango Fire Protection District with which it presently has a contractual relationship.
Both a special tax district to fund the library and entering DFPD’s district would raise Durango residents’ property taxes. City Council’s concern is voters would recoil at seeing both issues on one ballot in November.
The LAB discussed the predicament at a March meeting, in which board members acknowledged the council’s concerns but determined it is their job to stand up and speak out for the library’s best interests.
The board sent City Council a letter in May doing just that. The letter summarized discussion at the March meeting.
The LAB said in the letter that a 2022 community survey showed 70% of respondents supported the creation of a library district even though it would raise their property taxes. Given that support, the letter said, the city missed an opportunity by pursuing a ballot initiative this year, and the next earliest opportunity won’t be until 2028.
“There is no assurance that the future political climate will improve, nor that competing initiatives will not emerge in 2028,” the letter said.
In March, LAB members said the need for a library district is based on future growth needs like keeping up with technology.
“The population is growing, demands on the library are growing, technology is beginning to put a lot of pressure on libraries around the country,” said Bill LeMaire, LAB member, in an interview in April.
E-book prices have risen significantly, he said.
The library is a “beautiful building,” he said, but the library’s needs aren’t about “brick and mortar.”
“It’s the people inside. It’s reference material. It’s books,” he said. “You’ve got to take care of the library. This is a time to get the library on a financial (path) for the future. And if you don’t take care of it now, it’s going to be harder to do in the future.”
He shared similar views as other board members at the LAB’s March meeting. Revisiting the issue in 2028 isn’t going to be any easier.
“It’ll be another group in town needing to go to ballot for an initiative, and it’s always one thing. And sometimes you’re just going to have to do it,” he said.
One factor the LAB discussed in March and City Council considered at a study session earlier this month was the need for a new community survey. Sentiment favored a library district in 2022, but times have changed and so may have people’s feelings about more property taxes.
Library Director Luke Alvey-Henderson said in March a new survey was scheduled for October 2025. But the day before the survey launched, the city received new projections from the fire district that showed the city’s contract with the district would be $4 million more expensive in 2028.
The survey was postponed.
The city’s finances are being stretched by other needs too – housing; another $4 million gap in transit service funding; and water, sewer and wastewater infrastructure needs, Alvey-Henderson said.
As LeMaire pointed out, the library has its own needs.
The LAB letter said the library needs a “reliable, larger cash flow to remain competitive in a rapidly changing world of information acquisition.”
It argued the library is “the most egalitarian space in Durango and the surrounding region” that denies service to no one based on income or social status.
“The time to assure the future of the Durango Public Library is now and certainly no later than 2028,” the letter said.
It concluded, “We strongly urge reconsideration of a public survey and a commitment to further discussion on how the library can secure funding to ensure its future amid ongoing economic headwinds.”
In a June 2 study session, Mayor Dave Woodruff said he hates to use the phrase “kick the can down the road,” but that is essentially the option City Council has chosen.
He said council has committed to solving the question of whether to join the fire district, continue its contract or explore other options.
Councilor Jessika Loyer said it would be a detriment to the fire district and the library if council pursued a library district this year.
“It would be a crazy increase on their (residents’) property taxes if we went forward with both of them and they passed. They won’t pass, I don’t think, because it would be so much,” she said.
Councilor Shirley Gonzales, who was recently selected to be the council’s liaison to the LAB, said she would love to see the library move forward with an initiative for a special tax district.
Councilor Gilda Yazzie and Loyer agreed it makes more sense to hold a new community sentiment survey closer to the time when the city would propose a library district initiative, as opposed to holding a survey now and having its results become outdated as with what happened to the 2022 survey.
cburney@durangoherald.com
