At the end of the Assessment Phase of the districting project, a general description of the new or enlarged district was made. As the working group carried out the tasks of the Planning Phase, it may have become obvious that those boundaries would need to be modified. For example, if a staff or board of a city library is not supportive of being included in a new district, it might be advantageous for that city not to be included in the district election. Similarly, a city that originally was not interested in being part of the new district might have become interested as the Planning Phase continued.
Another issue that may need to be considered is state sales tax revenues. Taxing districts that were in existence in 1999 receive sales tax revenues under I.C. § 63-3638(10)(d). To retain this revenue, these taxing districts must in some fashion maintain their identity. This can be done through an annexation and consolidation, but not through an establishment election which creates a new district. Because of this, it may be decided to do a two-stage project (annexation followed by a consolidation or combination rather than an establishment election.) This issue can be quite complicated and needs to be researched with the county commissioners and the Idaho State Tax Commission before deciding. For help, contact your Idaho Commission for Libraries Public Library Consultant.
The final shape of the district should be determined by a reality check of the politics of the situation.
Reality Check
It is better to look at a smaller district, if by including more territory a successful election or sales tax revenue is threatened.
These final decisions, then, must be made on your own assessment of the local situation. It may be that the Planning Phase will develop a plan for a step-by-step districting project, where the most supportive parts of a county become a district first, and then other parts are added later. This certainly is an acceptable way of creating library districts. At the same time, the new district should include as much territory as possible. As you can see by this Handbook, even an easy districting project can be complicated. So, if possible, it is best to do it all at once, rather than in stages.