Boundaries of the proposed Boulder Library District that would go into effect if 6C passes.

Ballot Issue 6C, at its simplest, would establish a new Boulder Public Library District within the boundaries shown in the image at right, to replace the current Boulder Public Library system operating strictly within City of Boulder municipal boundaries. The new Library District would be primarily funded through a 3.5 mill property tax, while today the Boulder Public Library is primarily funded by sales taxes and a .33 mill property tax. The new Library District would have its own system of governance, as opposed to being governed as part of the City of Boulder municipal corporation.

Of course, there is a lot of detail to consider beyond the intro paragraph above. Ballot Issue 6C would pass with a simple majority of voters.

Is a District a New Idea?

Often, when I look at a new proposal, I check to see what peer cities about the same size as Boulder are doing. I started many moons ago with Greeley – a college town with about the same population as Boulder – and yes, they have a Library District.

There are about 56 library districts in Colorado, and literally hundreds if not thousands of other types of special districts including those managing fire protection, water, downtown business areas, and transit or transportation. You can find a list of information about library districts in Colorado at this link.

In many cases, forming a district, whether it’s for libraries or not, could make sense when compared with running a program strictly within city or county limits. For example, the RTD transit district spans thousands of square miles, which could be seen as logical because riders need to get to various parts of the metro area and not just from one end of Boulder to the other.

On the other hand, Boulder’s Public Library system has been a part of City of Boulder government and largely funded by Boulder taxpayers for decades, and all of Boulder’s existing libraries are located within city limits. With 6C, people will vote on the merits of the specific proposed Library District system, but there are many examples throughout Colorado of high-quality systems operating under both special district and municipal structures.

Funding Facts

Ballot Issue 6C, if it passes, would impose a property tax rate increase of 3.5 mills on property owners located within the Library District boundaries. According to 6C language, this would generate revenue of $18,780,000 annually, though actual revenue could increase or decrease in future years. The ballot language says aggregate tax revenues could increase by “additional amounts raised annually,” so there would be no technical need for the district to refund money to taxpayers if it takes in more than $18,780,000 in any year into the future.

Property tax bills are not assessed on a property’s sale value, but on its taxable value. In the case of 6C, this would cost residential property owners about $23 per year for every $100,000 of taxable value. According to the 6C proponent website, a residential property with assessed value of $500,000 would pay $115 per year, or a $900,000 property at $207 per year.

Non-residential property is assessed at a roughly four times higher rate than residential property, in this case about $97.60 for every $100,000 of assessed property value, according to the website for opponents to 6C.

Readers can look up what they’d be charged under 6C at the following link: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/8f0fafc66c7f4d0e9aba1084e37de9b7

Under Boulder’s current system, Boulder Public Library operating expenses are very largely funded through sales tax revenue that goes into the city’s General Fund, and the library system had a $9.1 million operating budget in 2022. City officials can decide how General Fund revenue is allocated during the yearly budget process. In essence, officials could increase or decrease library funding from General Fund revenues in any year. The current Library system is also funded by an existing .33 mill property tax levy which is specifically for libraries, and fundraising through the Boulder Library Foundation.

The operating budget is a major part of the expense of running the Boulder Public Library system, but it’s not the only part. According to the City’s 2023 budget message, the budget for 2023 logs in at $11,067,355. The 6C supporting committee has also created a chart showing items such as capital maintenance, deferred maintenance, and an operating budget for the future branch in North Boulder.

Nonetheless, if 6C passes and the Library District is formed, the existing .33 mill property tax would end but the Boulder Public Library system funding from the city’s General Fund would remain in the General Fund. According to city information, the General Fund supplies about 84% of the Boulder Public Library system’s operating budget, and it’s largely sales tax revenue. In essence, without any future action the existing General Fund money used for the Boulder Public Library could be used for any General Fund function if 6C passes.

Nothing in 6C specifies how the city could use this revenue that would no longer be used on libraries if 6C passes, and typically General Fund usage in any government is up to the appropriate governing body unless there are laws in place requiring or preventing specific types of usage.

What Would We Get For the Money?

Taken directly from 6C ballot measure language, the revenue would be used for general programs including:

  • Restored and improved literacy programs, including partnerships with schools to reach underserved students and students who fell behind during the pandemic;
  • Additional free and safe public spaces for community meetings, workshops and programs;
  • Updated and improved collections of books and materials, including bilingual materials and downloading of e-books, movies, and music;
  • Extended hours at all existing libraries and a new branch library in Gunbarrel;
  • Expanded access to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) programs, makerspaces (for creative projects), and free internet for young people, underserved communities and seniors; and
  • Improved maintenance, cleanliness, safety, and security at all library facilities.

The 6C proponents provide more specificity about potential future projects, including:

  • Funding to fully staff and stock the upcoming North Boulder branch library, along with plans for a makerspace, playground, and community kitchen
  • Restoring hours of operations and performing repairs at the George Reynolds branch
  • Repairs and additional archival space at the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History

Governance Structure

Colorado state law includes a framework for governance of library districts. In particular, readers might want to look through Colorado Revised Statutes 24-90-109 and other parts of CRS 24-90 to learn the structure in serious detail.

But in short, if 6C passes, a committee made up of members of Boulder City Council and the Board of County Commissioners would nominate members for the first Library District Board of Trustees. The Council and Commissioners would need to ratify these nominees by at least a two-thirds vote. According to information from boulderlibrary.org, Council and the Commissioners would decide if the new Board would have five, six, or seven members.

The Board of Trustees would have the following general powers and responsibilities, again according to boulderlibrary.org:

  • Adopt Board of Trustee bylaws, rules and regulations
  • Have custody of all property of the library
  • Employ the Library Director
  • Adopt an annual budget and make appropriations
  • Accept gifts of money or property for the library
  • Hold and acquire land by gift, lease or purchase for the library
  • Borrow funds and enter into contracts for library purposes
  • Submit an annual report to the establishing entities and the state library

The matter of how Boulder Public Library properties and staff would be transferred to the Library District has generated a lot of community debate, especially as to whether the Library District would own or lease the facilities. According to Colorado law (24-90-107), parties involved in such a transition must negotiate an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to establish transfers and other transitional issues.

According to 6C proponents, a majority of Boulder City Council members supported during a March 15 Council study session entering into a long-term lease for the actual Boulder Public Library buildings to the Library District if 6C passes. However, the IGA can’t be formally approved until after 6C passes, so the long-term lease is not yet written in stone, or ink, or digits.

Campaign Websites

Richard’s Take

I’m not going to endorse or oppose 6C. I generally believe in this case that voters will evaluate how much it will cost them and how much they’ll get for the money – whether the perceived benefits might be personal or societal – then weigh whether the ballot measure is worth it for them.

There are actually points about this ballot measure that are keeping me from offering my full support and points keeping me from full opposition. On the side that’s keeping me from a full endorsement:

  • The new property tax could add up to a lot of money depending on one’s property value and how many years people expect to stay in Boulder, and taxable property assessments don’t seem likely to decline any time soon.
  • Commercial property will be taxed at more than four times the rate of residential property, which could hurt businesses running at low profit margins or force them to raise prices, and that’s part of the reason why the Boulder Chamber of Commerce has opposed 6C.
  • By not reducing taxation going into the General Fund that is currently spent on libraries, taxpayers would be paying for new spending on unknown programs or services in other city departments. To me, this point seems underemphasized from what I’m seeing in media and community discourse. It does literally mean that 6C would levy $18.78 million in property taxes for libraries, plus allow re-allocation of some $8-9 million for unidentified purposes, under the banner of a ballot measure that might seem at first glance to be strictly about libraries.
  • This proposal relies on people who don’t live in or do business in the City of Boulder to pay property taxes to support facilities that are currently all within city limits. And it’s fairly likely that many of these same people shop in Boulder and pay sales taxes here, so they’d be paying the new property tax plus potentially funding unidentified new City spending with their sales taxes even though they don’t live within city limits.

On the side that’s stopping me from urging a “no” vote:

  • Library facilities and services are without a doubt a beneficial part of our social fabric, and worthy of adequate public funding. Of course libraries have books and digital media, but they’re also gathering places, they offer access to the internet, people can use these resources to augment education or career skills, and they’re accessible to people no matter their income level.
  • The current structure funding the Boulder library system relies heavily on sales tax revenue, which fluctuates based on economic conditions – including sinking like a stone during the beginning of the global pandemic. Property tax revenue, at least at this point in time, is almost certainly more dependable.
  • Boulder’s funding situation has required cuts to library hours of operation several times in recent history (I first wrote about it in 2003), and citizens deserve reasonable expectations of having libraries open for the bulk of a typical day.
  • It’s perhaps a little unfair to compare libraries to other parts of a typical city government when we have economic downturns. Many people and officials would easily support funding for items like public safety or transportation over full funding for libraries if they were only given binary choices. Specified funding through a Library District would eliminate pitting libraries against very different municipal responsibilities in a budget.

I’m a little less worried about some aspects of this debate than perhaps some people. It’s not abnormal at all to have a library district instead of a strictly municipal system. There are many entities across Colorado where board or commission members are appointed rather than elected, and there’s no guarantee members would perform better or worse based upon how they earned their position. Again, I can see the pros and cons of municipal governance along with special district governance, but I do think good systems can function under either.

However, I’d like to repeat one thing I said about property tax increases in my piece about this year’s Boulder Valley School District measure. “I have friends who are concerned about their property tax bills, and I don’t think they’re kidding or whining. With increases of property values in Boulder and surrounding areas come increased property taxes, and the State of Colorado actually passed a temporary property tax decrease this year to stave off proposed and drafted ballot initiatives that would have cut property taxes even deeper than the temporary state bill.”

So, I’ve had a problem this year with some of the community discourse painting people concerned about tax increases as being unwilling to fund libraries. It really rubbed me wrong, and proponents might wish to remember this in case 6C fails by a little bit and they need to try again. Speaking only for myself, I’m a life-long voracious reader, and remember like it was yesterday how much I loved “library night” with my parents as a kid.

But I also know people on limited incomes who are deeply concerned about another tax increase. If 6C was the only possible way to do a better job funding libraries, I’d put up a yard sign in support right now, but as it stands I have to stick with what I believe to be some pretty valid points in support and some pretty valid points in opposition.