Business community uncertain on Boulder library district

Jul. 6—Boulder's business community remains divided on the forthcoming ballot initiative that could form a library district encompassing Boulder and parts of unincorporated Boulder County.

Although there are some business owners in support, the Boulder Chamber, the region's flagship business advocacy and support organization, on Tuesday announced its opposition to the district, generally citing concerns about increasing property taxes in the midst of continued financial uncertainty.

If voters approved the library district in November, it would end more than 100 years of municipal control of Boulder's library system in exchange for a property tax-funded district that would be governed by a separate Board of Trustees.

Boulder Chamber CEO John Tayer said the organization is concerned about the new form of governance but perhaps even more so about increasing taxes for businesses that are struggling.

Many commercial rental rates are triple net, meaning the renter covers the actual rental rate for the structure as well as other costs such as property taxes, Tayer noted.

"We recognize that it's already a significant burden on businesses that are just now recovering from the impacts of covid and are facing trepidation for the economic cycle and the potential recession," he said. "The potential addition of such a large property tax increase at this time just doesn't seem appropriate."

The proposed library district would be funded through a dedicated property tax of 3.5 mills, yielding an estimated $18.78 million in its first year, according to information from the Boulder Library Champions.

The district represents a flat 4% increase on commercial and residential properties alike, or an annual increase of $23 per $100,000 of residential property value and $97.60 per $100,000 of commercial property value.

As a matter of state law, commercial property is assessed at a higher property tax rate than residential property.

For Cheryl Liguori, CEO of Z2 Entertainment, which operates the Fox Theater and Boulder Theatre, it simply doesn't feel like the right moment to propose a tax increase that would hit businesses hardest.

"I can tell you that our property taxes are enormous, and it's a burden for us as a business," she said. "From a small business perspective, I just feel the timing is off. I'm not sure that it's necessary."

Businesses have taken a hit during the coronavirus pandemic. However, Liguori said that's not the sole reason she won't be supporting district formation.

"I still think it's a burden on small businesses, pandemic or not," she said.

Of course, not all of those who own or are otherwise involved in local businesses feel that way.

Henry Koren, with Boulder-based software company Imatest, is a library district supporter. He views the potential for extra taxes from a different lens.

At its most basic level, a library district would bolster the library system and play a role in creating a better-educated workforce in Boulder. This allows him to hire locally and avoid contributing to Boulder's affordable housing crisis, Koren noted.

"I look at that tax money as something that's going to invest in the well-being of our community," he said.

The Boulder Library Champions, the main organization advocating for district formation, acknowledged the concern about rising costs but noted the mill rate already has been reduced — from 3.8 mills to 3.5 mills — in response to community input.

The decision to do this means the tax increase will raise less than the $19.5 million needed to fully fund the city-approved Boulder Public Library master plan, which includes plans for a Gunbarrel branch, restored library hours and expanded programs, such as the BLDG 61 makerspace.

"A library district has emerged as the best approach to providing stable and equitable funding for our library after years of discussion with local stakeholders," the Boulder Library Champions noted in an emailed statement. "In fact, the Chamber supported exploring a library district in its 2022 policy framework."

With 56 across the state, library districts are the most common means of providing library services in Colorado.

"There's no danger of 'losing control' of the library," the Champions continued in the statement. "But what our community does risk is continued loss of services as we continued to underfund the library via unstable city sales taxes."