Efforts to create a Durango library district had been gaining traction last year, but the momentum has since fizzled.
Durango Public Library Director Luke Alvey-Henderson said although the idea is not dead, a ballot question will not appear before voters this November. As a result, the soonest voters could weigh in on the proposal is November 2026, because taxing questions can only be presented to voters in even-numbered years in accordance with Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (or TABOR).
At Durango City Council’s strategic planning retreat in March, councilors decided to postpone exploration of a library district, which would have been its own taxing entity separate from the city The decision was motivated by uncertainty about what would happen with property taxes. Property taxes collected from residents living within the proposed library district would have been its funding source.
He said it is the city’s goal to draft ballot language that enables voters to make an informed choice.
Ideal ballot language would target a mill levy that would secure funding for 10 years if not longer. If voters were approached a second time in a decade for increased property tax funding, that would leave a bad impression, he said.
“It’s much more difficult to come back to the voters and get a successful ballot initiative than to raise the property taxes slightly to keep up with inflation,” he said. “And that really leads to actual threats to the organizational stability.
A community survey conducted by the library in 2022 took Alvey-Henderson and other city affiliates by surprise when it showed 71% of at least 440 respondents favored a 3.65% mill levy to support a library district. Alvey-Henderson expected more opposition.
But a lot has changed since 2022, he said, including uncertainty surrounding property taxes as a result of competing laws in the Colorado Legislature, among other factors.
“There was just such confusion, because it had such drastically different effects,” Alvey-Henderson said. “Some people’s property tax bill went up by a couple of dollars and some people’s went up by 30% and so that’s a pretty drastic change and led to some real confusion.”
All things considered, City Council decided that 2024 was not the year to consider a mill levy ballot measure. No further movement is expected until 2026, at the earliest.
Next year is not an option because of a stipulation in TABOR prohibiting non-TABOR ballot measures from being proposed on odd-numbered years.
But TABOR doesn’t prevent the conversation from continuing in the meantime. Alvey-Henderson said the library plans to issue another community survey to gauge support by residents for a library district either late this year or early 2025.
An independent issues committee comprised of a cross-section of community members would need to be formed in order to press the conversation forward, he said. The city and the library would be supportive of informative efforts but would not take a stance one way or the other on whether a library district should be formed.
“It is up to the voters. It’s their voice that matters,” he said. “And you know, we make it clear by putting it on the ballot and providing informational support.”
Should a ballot question be issued, it is the library’s goal to form an intergovernmental agreement before voting in November. That isn’t required by law, Alvey-Henderson said, but the library is “trying to go above and beyond.”
He said the goal is to have a ballot initiative pass through a fair process or fail in a way that clearly demonstrates what the community wants.
cburney@durangoherald.com
