A group of Arapahoe County residents is closely watching the City of Aurora Library General Improvement District tax measure (4A) this November 3rd.

The City, facing significant budget cuts and a waffling sales tax base, has proposed to cut its library budget by 50% in 2010. This reduction would close four of Aurora's seven library locations including the Hoffman Heights and Chambers Plaza branches in northern Aurora and the Iliff Square and Mission Viejo branches in southern Aurora. Additionally, the cut would reduce Aurora's materials collection budget from $1.2 million to $300,000. Even at $1.2 million, Aurora has by far the lowest per capita spending among major Front Range library systems.

Most of Arapahoe County that does not include Aurora is part of the Arapahoe Library District (ALD), with the exception of Littleton and Englewood that each has small municipal or city run libraries. ALD is an independent district that levies a property tax dedicated to its sole function - library services.

ALD residents are concerned that their large Smoky Hill Library, located just outside the border of Aurora, will be inundated with Aurora residents if the Aurora closures occur.

"This facility is already heavily used by Aurora residents now" says Marian O'Neil, an ALD resident. "Keep in mind that these Aurora residents do not pay into our library system." Adds O'Neil, "I fully understand that our residents may use some of Aurora's libraries and don't have a problem sharing library resources, however, if Aurora makes these cuts then the playing field will be outrageously lopsided to a point that ALD residents will be subsidizing Aurora residents far beyond a reasonable level." O'Neil is very concerned that the Smoky Hill Library will be overloaded to a point of a logjam.

Skip Johnson, another ALD resident says that his neighborhood association is watching the Aurora situation closely and is poised to demand that the ALD Board of Directors take action to either exclude or charge Aurora resident to use an ALD facility.

"We don't think limiting the amount of materials an Aurora resident can check out is enough" says Johnson. My kids need study space and computers at Smoky Hill and I am not paying my tax so Aurora residents can crowd out my kid --- sounds harsh but Aurora is going too far if they make these closures."

O'Neil and other concerned ALD residents hope Aurora voters pass 4A given Aurora is about the only Front Range community without a dedicated library property tax except for Denver which has more funding to work with overall. "Otherwise" Cameron Safanski, another ALD resident notes "the City needs to figure out a way to fund its libraries." I don't like the idea of limiting Aurora residents, but ALD residents will take action if necessary."

This article written by Chris Malone, Metropolitan State College student