The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Mt. CB gives thumbs up
by Mark Reaman
The Crested Butte Town Council delayed a vote on whether to support the Gunnison County Library District’s request to endorse its upcoming ballot issue. A couple of council members wanted to delve deeper into the tax increase request, so the council will consider the request at its October 7 meeting.
Library District executive director Drew Brookhart presented the council with the reasoning for the proposed 1.9 mill levy request at the September 16 council meeting. He said the district saw 146,000 visits last year, up 77 percent from the year 2000.
Currently the Library District receives about $941,000 in funding from the Gunnison County general fund. If the ballot issue passes, the mill levy would raise about $1.2 million and the money would be spent on operations that could increase programming and the number of books available to the public. The county would then cut back on its annual contribution but has agreed to finance and construct a new library building on the 5.32 acres adjacent to the Gunnison elementary school and the Van Tuyl trails in Gunnison.
“The library board is looking for a consistent and sustainable funding source with this,” explained Brookhart. “We try to provide services for all ages and demographics throughout the county.”
Councilman Chris Haver said he didn’t know a lot about the tax increase and how the money would be spent. So he asked for some time to look further into the issue that would increase taxes on residential and commercial property. “I really want to understand it before agreeing to support raising taxes,” he said.
Councilwoman Mallika Magner agreed, saying she wanted “some time to ponder the implications of the proposal,” but others on the council wanted to vote immediately to support the ballot issue.
“It seems like a no-brainer to me,” said councilman Will Dujardin. “We should be supporting this.”
Dujardin, along with council members Laura Mitchell and Paul Merck, voted against continuing the discussion to the next meeting on October 7, while Magner, Haver, Candice Bradley and mayor Jim Schmidt held the majority to postpone the vote.
Brookhart also presented the endorsement request to the Mt. Crested Butted Town Council during their September 17 meeting, and council voted to support 7-0. Councilmember Lauren Daniel raised the question of whether the pre-teen/teenager demographic had a need for additional programming given their access to the Gunnison Watershed School District libraries, but it was not concern enough to vote against the endorsement.
