Boulder County Library District funding and Trustees

On Oct. 4, Boulder County Library District Board of Trustees President Joni Teter announced that the 2024 library budget will be presented at public board hearings at the main library at 1001 Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder on Oct. 10 and 24 at 6 p.m.

An Oct. 6 memo from David Farnan, Library Director, and Jennifer Phares, Director of Administration, to the Boulder Library District Board of Trustees, stated, “The recommended 2024 library district budget is $38,619,172. The simplest explanation of this amount is that the inaugural 2024 budget shows nearly two full years of revenue and nearly two full years of operating expenses in one year.

“A portion of the budget [$13M, or 34%] is debt service owed to the City of Boulder for funding the library’s 2023 operating costs. The other portion of the budget [$19.8M, or 51%] is projected operating expenditures for the first full year of library services without direct and indirect support from the City of Boulder.”

The memo also stated, “A capital appropriation between $2.5 million is included in the recommended budget for the purchase of a library facility in Gunbarrel.”

Farnan described the formation process. “In November of 2022, the voters approved the formation and funding for the Boulder Public Library District. While the district was ‘formed’ in 2022, it was only after the City of Boulder had approved of the 2023 library budget. Between January and May of 2023, while Boulder City Council and the Boulder County Commissioners deliberated on appointing and ratifying the first Boulder Library District Board of Trustees, the library functioned for all intents and purposes as a city department.”

Boundaries of the district extend as far north as Monarch Road and include all of Lake Valley.

The organizational meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Boulder Public Library District was held May 16, 2023. Minutes of the meeting stated, “The following Trustees, having been appointed by the Boulder County Commissioners and the City Council of the City of Boulder to serve on the Board, were in attendance:

Katharine (Joni) Teter

•Benita Duran

•Jennifer Yee

•Cara O’Brien

•Sylvia Wirba

•Doug Hamilton

•Sam Fuqua

Farnan’s memo continued, “One of their first actions was to approve of an $18.5 million budget [the approximate amount of revenue anticipated to be earned in 2023]. Soon after, the Board of Trustees entered an interim agreement with the City of Boulder and agreed to allow library functions and operations to remain under City of Boulder guidance for the remainder of 2023 with a promise from the district to pay the city for costs incurred. Boulder Public Library District anticipated revenue for 2024 is approximately $22M. This is an 18.2% increase from 2023 Trustee approved district budget, and a 24% increase from the current actual 2023 revenues. Local property tax funding is anticipated to generate $21,878,106. The remaining revenue is anticipated to be generated by ‘other’ taxes, grants and revenue.”

Negotiations for the intergovernmental agreements (IGA) to transfer the City of Boulder and Boulder County assets and the implementation of the changeover of operational human relation issues, payroll and IT systems, are in process.

Plans are currently under discussion to establish a library facility in Gunbarrel in 2024, to better serve the Gunbarrel area. It has yet to be decided whether a facility will be built or leased.