Dolores library tax fails by 15 votes

Dolores library tax fails by 15 votes

November 7, 2001

by Janelle Holden
journal staff writer

By a slim margin, the Dolores Library District failed to garner enough votes to expand the town’s library and town hall. The proposed 1.879-mill-levy increase to fund the library expansion was voted down by a vote of 581 to 566, a margin of only 15 votes.

Almost half of the district’s registered voters sent in their mail ballots, but Dolores Library Director Carole Arnold said the library lost votes because voters were confused.

"I think it (the loss) is because we had a mail-in ballot, and all the confusion," explained Arnold, who said that registered voters came into the library to vote and then said they had thrown out their mail-in ballot. "I think the confusion is people just did not understand."

Arnold said the library district would ask for a recount if the cost is not prohibitive.

Deputy County Clerk Carol Tullis said the margin may be slim enough to trigger a mandatory recount, but she needed to check the statutes.

"It’s a legal ballot. It’s a legal question, so there’s nothing that can be done about it (the mail-in ballot) now," said Tullis.

The library district chose a mail-in ballot over polling.

Currently, the Dolores library and town hall share a building — a tight squeeze for all involved. The mill-levy increase would have paid to add 5,000 square feet to the library building, which is currently crammed into a 2,500-square-foot area.

The additional space would have given the library more room for children’s books, a computer lab, and a reading/study area.

The new building would have remained under town ownership. The town would have gained 2,130 square feet from the expansion, to be used for a meeting room, office space, a conference and lunch room, and storage space.

The expansion was expected to cost around $900,000. The mill-levy increase would have raised property taxes approximately $17 per $100,000 of assessed valuation, which supporters pointed out was less than a hardback book.

The library had committed $100,000 to the project that took them over 15 years to save, and had applied for a $300,000 energy-impact grant from the state.

Arnold said that it was "too soon to tell" whether the district would continue to pursue the mill-levy increase in future elections.