Our Conditions for Supporting the Levy Lid Lift

Timberland Regional Library will likely ask voters for a levy lid lift. The Patron Coalition wants the library funded — and we continue to support that ask, conditionally, and for as long as the Board and TRL keep demonstrating commitment to the conditions below. A levy is not a reward for past management. It is the public's investment in a specific future: open doors, real staff, and full shelves in every community across all five counties, not just the easy-to-reach ones. Here is what has to be true for that investment to be worth making.

One thing should be plain before the list: the levy lid lift belongs to the Board of Trustees and TRL administration. It is their proposal to make, their campaign to run, and their responsibility to earn. What patrons can offer is what we have always offered — our time, our voices, and our support — when the conditions below are met.

Why conditions, and not just a yes

The numbers explain it. TRL's audited cash and investments fell from $19.8 million at the end of 2022 to $14.4 million at the end of 2024 — a drop of about 27% in two years, including a $4.3 million operating deficit in 2024. To be fair and precise: the state auditor gave TRL a clean opinion on its cash-basis books, with no material weaknesses and no findings of fraud. The books add up. The concern is not missing money. It is how the money is managed — and the deep analysis behind that concern, Anatomy of a Financial Crisis, walks through it exhibit by exhibit, built from audited budgets and 280 board meetings.

New money poured into the same management practices buys the same results. So before we ask our neighbors to raise their own taxes, three things have to change.

1. A budget the public can see

Every dollar visible, verified by someone with no stake in the answer.

• An independent, third-party financial review, procured through a credible, conflict-free process.
• A detailed, public spending plan for every levy dollar, published by an agreed date — money to books, open hours, and frontline staff, not cosmetic remodels.
• A required allocation: a floor for collections and frontline staff, and a cap on administrative spending.
• Administrative rightsizing — a defensible ratio of administrative to public-facing staff — and an honest revenue forecast that names the lost timber-tax revenue instead of wishing it away.
• Competitive bidding on every significant purchase. No more no-bid contracts.

2. Qualified people running the system

Permanent, qualified professionals — hired through real searches, accountable for results.

• A permanent, experienced Executive Director, chosen through a genuine professional search: a library-specific search firm, an agreed timeline, qualifications beyond the minimum (library science and public administration), and staff, Friends, and the public involved in the choice.
• A qualified finance director and technology director — real expertise in the two areas where the system has struggled most, not stopgaps.
• Every branch staffed. No staffless branches, no solo-staffed branches, part-time positions capped, and collections budgets restored.
• Capacity to stop leaving money on the table: a grant writer, active pursuit of federal and state funds, and a library foundation.

3. A board that answers to the public

A fully seated board, with the community built into how the system is run — not consulted after the fact.

• Every Board of Trustees seat filled, by genuine stewards of public money.
• A non-voting union representative seated on the Board — something the by-laws already allow.
• A staff member and a community member at every board meeting, with a standing agenda item that actively solicits their input — and visible evidence that input changes decisions.
• Former library staff and Friends members eligible to serve as trustees.
• Open meetings and a revived Friends Forum — engagement as practice, not performance.

What happens next

These conditions aren't a wish list to revisit after the election. They are what earns the coalition's public support before we lend it — commitments made concrete, with dates attached, so that everyone who knocks on a door or writes a check for this levy knows exactly what it buys.

The standard behind all of it is not ours; it belongs to every library. The Library Bill of Rights has defined what a public library owes its community since 1939. A transparent budget, qualified staff, and an accountable board are simply what it takes to deliver on that promise in five counties at once.

Sources

WA State Auditor — Financial Statements Audit Reports, TRL FY2022 (No. 1034185) and FY2024 (No. 1039929). Eric Wilson, Anatomy of a Financial Crisis (13 exhibits, built from audited budgets and 280 board meetings). Full source list on the main page.

← Back to the main page