AURORA, Colo. -- Voters in Aurora rejected measure 4A, a property tax increase to keep four libraries open.

Under the budget approved by the City Council, the Chambers Plaza, Iliff Square, Mission Viejo and Hoffman Heights branches will be tagged for closure in 2010. More than 100 staff positions will also be cut from the Library and Cultural Services Department.

The ballot question asked voters to create a new general improvement district to fund Aurora’s library system with an added 4.29 mills, which would have translated roughly into an extra $5.69 a month on a $200,000 home, according to the Aurora Sentinel newspaper.

During the campaign, opponents of measure 4A objected to costs spelled out in the ballot question. The Citizens for Responsible Aurora Government launched an opposition campaign to the ballot question, stating that an increase in property taxes would be too burdensome for many homeowners in the current economic downturn.

“It’s a referendum on the mismanagement of the Aurora City Council of the city’s resources,” Greg Golyansky, spokesman for CRAG, told the newspaper. “They simply don’t trust the City Council to waste any more of their money ... It wasn’t about libraries at all,” he said, adding that the issue boiled down to high water rates, no-bid contracts and other issues related to city spending.

Proponents of the measure said the increase would provide a dedicated funding source for Aurora’s libraries, which face the annual risk of budget cutbacks according to the status of the city’s general fund and the state of the local and national economy.