Library looks to the community for funding
Submitted by James LaRue, Director of Douglas County Libraries
Let’s keep a good thing going Castle Pines; library looks to the community for funding
In 2007 and 2008, the library sought additional funding to build new libraries in Lone Tree and Parker, and open a new service location in Castle Pines. Both years, voters defeated the proposal. The library clearly stated that no new facilities were possible with existing revenues.
But Castle Pines community activists came to the library to ask for special consideration: if they pledged financial support to defray the cost of running a new facility, could we open a library anyhow? That support consisted of negotiated free rent for two years, and various individual pledges to help the library underwrite additional facility costs for the term of the lease (rent after one year, other common area costs, utilities, etc.).
We estimated that this would cost about $50,000 per year, for five years. At the same time, the library sold its aging bookmobile, and had a small staff available.
The library did close the bookmobile and open the library, which has been very well-used. On a square foot basis, [the Castle Pines library] may be the busiest library in Colorado.
In its first two years of operation, the community helped us raise approximately $49,000. As a result of the 2008 recession and the reappraisal of property affecting library revenues for 2012 and 2013, property taxes are predicted to fall by about eight percent (8%). The library will have even less money than it has now.
The two-year period of free rent is now over, increasing our costs for running the library. Our anticipated facility costs for 2011 are about $30,000.
We need help! In the small community of Louviers, the 300 residents have raised $18,000 in each of two years in a row to support their library. Can we count on the support of the Castle Pines residents who partnered with us before?
If You would like to help, please contact Amy Long at the Castle Pines Library ( e-mail ) and tell her you want to “Keep a Good Thing Going!”
