Election confuses county library funding

Waiting until after the election

The Board of County Commissioners has decided to delay any decision on county funding for the Gunnison County Library District until after the November 1 election. Current funding for the district is dictated by an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the county and the district that specifically eliminates county funding if the library district secures its own mill levy.

But the library district has asked Gunnison County voters to approve a mill levy of 3.5 mills, with promises that it will ask for only 1 to 1.5 mills in the next couple of years. That promise, according to library district executive director Larry Meredith, was made assuming that county funding would continue.
That confused the county commissioners, who questioned Meredith on the matter last week when they considered amending the IGA to remove that requirement, saying instead that the commissioners may reduce funding.
“When I read the ballot, the operational portion of the ballot is $1.1 million for operations, and the request for the county commissions to continue to fund is approximately $700,000,” said commissioner Paula Swenson. “So that would be a funding mechanism for the library of about $1.8 million… I don’t understand why we’re continuing to do this if the mill levy passes.”
“The library board went on the hope and assumption that the county commissioners would continue to fund us at the level that we have been funded, and we would ask for up to 3.5 mills to cover us in case at some point you don’t or property values continue to decline or various different things. The board has promised the voters that we will ask for 1.5 mills assuming we have the county commissioners’ continued support,” said Meredith.
He clarified that with 1.5 mills and county support, the operating budget would be closer to $1.4 million. That budget, he said, was partly intended to help the library district prepare for 2013—after construction was complete.
“What kind of preparation things are you thinking of operation-wise that you would need to double your budget?” Swenson asked.
“Collection development, for one thing. Getting ready for staff development, hoping to contract with the new Performing Arts Center in Mt. Crested Butte for some space up there. They’re asking for up front payment of $230,000 to $240,000. We just put that aside until that happens,” Meredith answered.
“So basically you’re wanting the funding for [things other than] operations next year,” Swenson said.
“Well, we can operate on what we’ve had. As of right now, the budget is almost $1 million with the money we bring in with grants and gifts and that sort of thing. But that money is becoming more and more difficult to attract. Grants and foundations don’t have the money they used to have, so this would help keep us at that point and give us a little bit extra to do some of the things we need to do to get ready for 2013,” Meredith said.
Commissioner Hap Channell brought the discussion back to the proposed IGA revision.
“What I understood, and I think Paula understood as well, is the intent that as the library increased its operations budget through taxpayer-approved mill levies the county would correspondingly reduce our subsidy, and this allowed for that. It says may reduce. And so the question is, are we comfortable with that or do want to stay with the current language of the agreement until after election?” Channell asked.
“I would feel more comfortable waiting for the outcome of the election,” said Swenson. “If/when the mill levy passes to sit down and have a conversation about what the two different moneys are going to so we can assure our constituents, because quite honestly I’ve had a lot of questions about this.”
Meredith agreed to the suggestion, saying that he could have that conversation at any time because there are two budgets planned—one if the ballot measures pass and one if they don’t.
When asked if he agreed with the timing, Commissioner Phil Chamberland said, “The commitment is not to leave the library high and dry either way. Maybe [doing it now] is just premature, but we will have to have an agreement either way.”
The commissioners agreed to hold off until after the election when the discussion would be cleaner.
Meredith said, “Maybe we were presumptuous in assuming this funding would continue but that’s kind of what we’ve based our budgeting plans on, that’s why we told the voters that we would ask for 1 mill next year and 1.5 mills in 2013.”
“In my mind it is a little presumptuous, quite honestly, because I was of the mind that there would be some kind of quid pro quo that as the library funding increased, the county’s portion would dissipate,” Channell said.