(The Center Square) – Spokane Public Library officials say without another $2.3 million from the city in 2027, they may have to close every branch two days a week and lay off around two dozen employees.
Executive Director Andrew Chanse and Finance Director Nicole Edwards told the SPL Board of Trustees on Thursday that the system faces a negative cash balance of roughly $2.5 million by the end of 2027.
Edwards said the bridge request would serve as cost recovery, after Chanse said SPL cut costs by $1.5 million over the last few years due to receiving relatively flat funding from the city council. The general fund accounts for roughly 82% of SPL’s revenues, with the dedicated library levy filling the remainder.
Chanse and the trustees want to put another levy renewal out to voters before it expires at the end of 2027, but say they aren’t comfortable doing so until the council provides more funding. Otherwise, the existing SPL property tax rate of 7 cents per $1,000 of assessed value could possibly double or triple.
“I think it’s safe to say that the library has done their job and the public is doing their job by utilizing our facilities and our services for record numbers; the missing part is the city,” Chanse said.
“Step up and be that missing piece that funds the services that the people have voted for and are utilizing,” he added.
Voters first approved the city library tax in 2013, renewed the 7-cent rate in 2017 and 2024, and also approved a $77 million facilities bond in 2018. Despite that, Chanse and Edwards say the general fund support for the system hasn’t kept up with rising cost pressures, squeezing SPL’s operational capacity.
“Taxpayers never agreed to this relationship,” Chanse said after arguing that SPL is at “rock bottom” and cannot afford to provide the same level of service without additional funding in 2027 and beyond.
The Spokane City Council increased SPL’s funding for 2026 by roughly $500,000 last fall after reducing it by about that much the year before. Chanse had warned that SPL would face significant cuts without it, prompting the council to draw on its own office budget to help fill a $13 million general fund deficit.
He explained three cut scenarios on Thursday, based on the deficit SPL could face in 2027, depending on how much gap funding the council provides. Edwards said SPL isn’t asking the council for the entire $2.5 million delta to leave room for negotiations and signal that the board is still in cost-saving mode.
The request comes as the council awaits budget projections ahead of another potential deficit in 2027; the county is also facing a deficit, and both jurisdictions have eyed potential tax increases as a result.
There are also school, transit and public safety taxes gearing up for the August and November ballots.
Councilmember Michael Cathcart, the lone conservative on the dais, has expressed concerns about the city’s spending priorities and taxpayer fatigue with so many measures on the ballot. In an interview on Tuesday, he told The Center Square that city and council staff are still working on projections for 2027.
“I don’t entirely know kind of where all that stands at this point, but I do know that, for example, we don’t have the funds right now to pay some of the animal control bills that we know we need to pay,” Cathcart said, noting that the council also hopes to increase spending on court services and other areas in 2027.
Recent polling conducted by Greater Spokane Incorporated has found that most residents don’t trust the city to spend their tax dollars responsibly and believe the government has enough money for its priorities.
“The library has maintained most vacated positions, restricted travel, reduced collection spending by $150,000, and delayed major … purchases,” Chanse wrote in a Thursday blog detailing potential cuts.
Next steps
Under a deficit of $400,000 to $500,000, Chanse said they would need to close every SPL location on Sundays and one on Mondays. The board would also lay off 3.5 full-time staff members, cut services at senior and daycare centers by 10%, and reduce annual book and materials purchases by $250,000.
Under a $1.5 million shortfall, Chanse said the board would need to close every location on Sundays and Mondays, close an hour earlier on the days they are open, cut 17 employees, reduce services at senior and daycare centers by 50% and cut an additional $450,000 in book and materials purchases.
In the worst-case scenario, meaning the council doesn’t provide any gap funding, Chanse warned SPL would close every location on Sundays and Mondays, the Central Library on Saturdays, close an hour earlier on the days they are open, cut 23.5 employees, reduce services at senior and daycare centers by 50% and cut another $100,000 in book and materials purchases on top of the other reductions.
“We’re decimated,” Chanse told the trustees in the event of a $3 million deficit without bridge funding.
The trustees plan to send their budget proposals directly to the council moving forward, rather than to the mayor’s office. Chanse said he is also launching a public campaign to pressure the city to increase general fund support for the library system in hopes of securing a funding commitment next month.
Without that commitment, SPL may begin reducing operations this fall, ahead of the council’s adoption of a budget for 2027. The library levy expires at the end of next year, so the trustees will likely place a renewal on the ballot before then, but the tax rate will depend on what happens with the general fund.
The Spokane County Library District placed a tax hike on the August ballot, but Chanse said SPL needs to make clear to residents that passing that levy doesn’t increase funding for the city’s library system.
“Fund the things that the public already said yes to before you do anything else,” he urged Thursday.