With a looming recession, COVID-19 still fresh on some people’s minds, and a general distrust in state and local governments, some people questioned if now was the right time to ask voters whether they support a tax increase.

But that’s what Durango Public Library did, and feedback was surprisingly in favor for a new taxing district.

Luke Alvey-Henderson, Durango Public Library director, said he and other city staff members expected the September survey gauging support for a 3.65% mill levy to show a majority of respondents in opposition. But 71% of at least 440 survey respondents favored the mill levy.

Seventeen respondents said they don’t support a new mill levy and 12% said they are undecided about the issue, according to survey results provided by Alvey-Henderson.

Seventy-three percent of respondents who expressed support for a mill levy said they are “likely voters” compared with only 16% respondents who opposed a mill levy saying they are “likely” to vote in local elections. The survey was conducted primarily in-person and over the phone, according to the results.

The most favored uses for a new mill levy, should a new mill levy make it onto a future ballot and be approved by voters, is extending nighttime and Sunday hours of operation, the library director said.

“What’s holding us back, of course, is staffing,” Alvey-Henderson said. “We just don’t have the current funding model for additional staff to staff those additional hours, which this mill levy increase would be more than able to cover.”

Alvey-Henderson said the favorable survey results were a surprise, but a welcome one.

“It was incredibly humbling and gratifying to see how much people love this library – that they would be that in favor of it (a mill levy increase),” he said.

He said he can’t take credit for the public’s support for Durango Public Library, noting he stepped into the director’s role only about three months ago.

“It’s such a testament to what this community thinks about (the library) and makes me, as a director, more determinantthan ever to provide the best service possible, because that is a very high bar to want to meet and achieve,” he said.

cburney@durangoherald.com