Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2008 12:00 am
Star-Tribune Editorial Board
Laramie County has a few things it can teach Natrona County about getting voters to tax themselves to build a new library. The southeastern county did it in a 2003 election.
But last week's defeat of a 1 percent sales tax to construct a $55 million recreation center in Cheyenne was an example of how not to present such an issue to voters.
Supporters of the proposed $30 million library in Casper can learn valuable lessons from both experiences. Natrona County voters have never approved a sixth-cent special purpose tax.
Let's start with the successful project. Last year, an impressive $26.9 million, 103,000-square-foot library opened in downtown Cheyenne near the Capitol complex. Six months later, the facility made a top 10 list of best libraries in the nation.
How did the county pull it off?
People in the capital city had plenty of time to get used to the idea of a new library. The first phase of a master plan was finished in the 1990s, but the second phase was never completed and the library itself took the project off the ballot in 2000. Three years later, the county commissioners and the library board decided the time was right to go to the voters.
Library proponents met with patrons to find out what they wanted at the new facility. Thanks to that input, the three-story structure has more than 100 computers and printers, a 50-station computer center, five new meeting rooms with audio-visual services, and eight study rooms.
The project also upgraded the children's area of the library, but the planners said no to the wall-sized aquarium kids said they wanted.
The library board then held a lot of meetings to inform the public about the project. Voters knew what it included, what it didn't include, and how much everything would cost. They also knew approximately when the tax would end.
The lesson for Natrona County to consider is the importance of finding out what people want, deciding what is reasonable and mounting a strong educational campaign to sell voters on the idea.
The good news is that's exactly what the library board plans to do.
Now contrast that experience with the failure of the recreation center. Supporters of that project also asked what people wanted, but it doesn't appear that anything was ever pared from the list.
The proposed rec center included three swimming pools, three gyms, a running and walking track, an indoor fieldhouse, a boxing area, martial arts space, party rooms, racquetball courts, a climbing wall, and an all-purpose room. As items were added, the price tag ballooned from $35 million to $55 million.
The lesson? If you try to please everybody, it might cost so much that voters won't give their approval.
The poor national economy, including high fuel and grocery costs, was also cited as a factor by both backers and opponents of the rec center. But Wyoming's economy is doing much better than the rest of the country.
Natrona County residents should get involved in the process, so the library board can develop a plan that the entire community can be proud of. Then they need to go to the polls to support it.