PORT ANGELES – The entire North Olympic Library System, with branches in Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks and Clallam Bay, will shut down for a week in spring and another week next fall, because of furloughs of all 51 library employees.
That’s one result of the public library system Board of Trustees’ unanimous adoption of the 2010 budget Thursday night.
The board also unanimously adopted a property tax levy increase of 1 percent.
Next year’s budget deals with a gaping shortfall: $176,043 in property-tax and other revenue that isn’t there, said Paula Barnes, director of the countywide library system.
The shortfall stems from the fact that the inflation rate, and library operating expenses, have averaged 2.8 percent for the past eight years, Barnes said, while Washington state law caps increases in property tax levies for libraries at just 1 percent per year.
The Board of Trustees adopted a 2010 budget of $3,139,102, up a little from this year’s $3,082,813.
To fund the modest growth, the board adopted the property tax levy increase.
The current levy is at about 31 cents per $1,000 in assessed property valuation, Barnes said.
Next year’s tax rate is yet to be determined, as it will be based on the total assessed property valuation across Clallam County.
In the 2010 budget, about $65,000 will be saved in the furloughs of all library workers and the closing of the four branches, which Barnes said is scheduled for March 29 to April 3 and from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4.
The budget also takes $88,021 from the library system’s rainy-day fund, formally called the Reserve for Economic Uncertainty.
The library staff agreed, Barnes said, that if there has ever been a time of economic uncertainty, this is it.
More to cut
Still, that leaves $23,022 remaining to be cut, and so the budget adopted by the board also includes that amount to be trimmed from personnel expenditures.
Barnes said it may be possible to make that trim by not filling a position vacated by a staff member who retires next year.
But it may be necessary to lay off a worker, she added.
The pair of weeklong furloughs mean a 3.9 percent cut in pay that is already slim for library workers; “their salaries are below market,” Barnes said.
But both the union and non-union workers agreed to the furloughs.
“They’re trying to stave off layoffs,” Barnes said.
“These folks are really dedicated to providing library services. So it’s hard to imagine shutting down the whole library,” she added.
The furlough-closure is similar to what happened this summer Seattle. That giant city library system shut all of its branches for a week in September.
During the budget-drafting process that led up to Thursday’s board decision, Barnes said her librarians and support staffers were anxious. But she sought to keep them “very informed” about the proposed cuts, in hopes of alleviating some of the stress.
Barnes added that she’s worked for employers who kept such plans secret. She found that excruciating.
“I’ve always felt it’s best to have everyone know what’s going on,” she said.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
