TASK FORCE REPORT ON DENVER

Library Administrator's Digest, Feb 2005

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper today released the Report of the Mayor's Task Force on Future Library Funding. Hickenlooper formed the Task Force in March 2004 to explore the Denver Public Library's (DPL) funding in light of its financial situation.

In their Report, Task Force members advocate a modest funding increase to help offset three years of severe library budget cuts at both state and city levels.

Following are four funding and governance scenarios studied by the Task Force and outlined in the Report. The Task Force scenario four:

1. City Library with General Fund (library funding sources would remain unchanged).

2. Library District (a library district, a separate legal entity from the city, would be approved by Denver voters and fully funded by an increase in property tax).

3. City Library with Dedicated Mill Levy (the library would continue to be part of the city, but would be fully funded by a Denver voter-approved property tax).

4. City Library with General Fund and Dedicated Mill Levy (the library would continue to receive a part of its budget from the City General Fund and would have an additional source of dedicated revenue from a voter-approved property tax).

Twelve of 13 Task Force members recommended that the mayor and City Council strongly consider additional funding for DPL, which has cut its budget by more than $5 million or 15.8 percent since 2002, through reductions in staff, hours and days of service. The Task Force did not recommend any changes in library governance.

Since 2002, the library has reduced its service delivery with the following actions:

* Reducing the books and materials budget by 34 percent.

* Reducing staff to assist customers by 17 percent.

* Limiting outreach to the community through programming, among other things.

News Release, Denver (CO) Public Library, December 2004