by Lisa Crockett

Voters in Douglas County opted not to increase funding to the Douglas County Library District. On the November 6 mail ballot, issue 5A, which would have imposed a property tax increase of 1.25 mills, was defeated by a margin of less than one percent. A mere 208 ballots separated the “yes” votes from the “no” votes.

Without the additional funding, the library district will be unable to open the storefront library in Castle Pines North (CPN) at the corner of Castle Pines Parkway and Monarch Boulevard.

“[Without the new funding] there will not be a Castle Pines North Library. We can’t build and operate any new facilities,” said Jamie LaRue, director of the Douglas County Library District.

Douglas County libraries do a brisk “business” with a staggering 80 percent market share. In addition to the CPN library, the funding would have allowed the district to open new, larger facilities in Lone Tree and Parker.

“Voters in Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock already have new libraries. Their votes out number us and they apparently didn’t want to pay for three new libraries in other communities,” said CPN Master Association President Maureen Shul.

“Up until now, we’ve been able to keep up with growth in the county by working smarter and some stringent belt tightening,” said LaRue. “Now it’s time to do some capital improvements and we need more money to do that.”

Now that CPN is set to become a new city, Preservation Committee Leader Maureen Shul wants to explore other alternatives.

“While we are certainly disappointed in the results of this ballot question, we will work closely with Jamie LaRue and the Douglas County Library District to see what other options might be available to us in the future for a library in our community,” said Shul.

Until then, CPN residents will continue to enjoy the Bookmobile, which visits the community Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays in the King Soopers parking lot.

Residents interested in volunteering to serve on a future library committee for CPN can email .