A Comprehensive Public Outreach Campaign to Renew an Award-Winning Library System's Funding
The Issue
The 0.6 mill levy the voters passed 20 years ago for library building and capital needs was set to expire at the end of 2019. Skyrocketing property valuations in metro Denver triggered a ratchet down in the state constitution costing the Pueblo City-County Library District (PCCLD) at least $700,000 a year. The challenge of this campaign was to assure voters that although by law the ballot measure was referred to as a "tax increase," it was simply a renewal of the 0.6 mill levy already in place.
The Solution
PCCLD worked with Effct to run a comprehensive public outreach campaign, using digital media and text messaging to reach active voters in Pueblo County. As a result, nearly 60% of Pueblo voters chose to vote YES on 6B. This was despite significant opposition from Pueblo voters on other tax related ballot measures, such as Proposition CC, which lost by 55% of the Pueblo vote.
How We Reached Voters
Website Design
Creative and informative website to direct voters to
Social Media
150,000 people reached
1.3 million impressions
Media Content
Attention-grabbing digital media content creation
Volunteer Texting
28,351 texts sent
The Result
The Pueblo community voted to renew the property tax and maintain Pueblo Libraries' funding with nearly 60% of the vote.