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Sherwood library faces budget pressure as county library levy and funding formula remain unsettled
Summary
Library staff told the budget committee the city library may reduce hours and programs under a conservative two‑year budget while a Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS) levy and funding governance evaluation could change future revenue flows.
The Sherwood Public Library’s manager told the budget committee the library is projecting constrained resources for the 2025–27 biennium while a Washington County funding and governance review and a county levy scheduled for November 2025 could change county support levels.
Library Manager Adrienne Doman Calkins said the county cooperative (WCCLS) is the library’s main intergovernmental funding source and that the budget reflects a conservative assumption of a 1% increase from WCCLS rather than prior multi‑percent growth. She warned the committee that uncertainty around the county levy and the governance review means the library cannot assume higher funding levels when preparing the city’s two‑year budget.
Practical implications
Doman Calkins said the proposed cuts would reduce library hours from 60 hours per week to about 53 hours, maintained across seven days but with fewer open hours on lower‑use shifts. The library would reduce some public programming (for example, story time sessions would go from six sessions to four) and would eliminate a 0.5 FTE librarian 1 position. She and staff said they have used door‑count and circulation data to guide which hours would be trimmed to minimize impact.
County process and next steps
City and library staff described ongoing county work to model a new funding allocation formula and governance approach; draft proposals shared with cities are not final. Doman Calkins and city staff said Sherwood could see more or less county support under the final formula, and that the city will update its budget through supplemental processes if the county decisions materially change revenues.
Ending
Library officials urged continued public engagement in the county process and encouraged donations to the Sherwood Library Foundation (Shelf) as a local supplement, noting that final county action and the November levy will determine whether the library budget can be restored or must remain conservative.
