Washington County reviews proposed library funding formula, service boundaries ahead of 2026 IGA deadline

Washington County commissioners on Sept. 23 reviewed a staff- and consultant-developed proposal to change how county library levy funds are allocated across the Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS) network, a change county staff said is needed because the current intergovernmental agreement (IGA) expires in June 2026.

County staff and consultants from Marina and Company presented a multi-step method that (1) assigns voter-precinct service boundaries using municipal lines and travel-time radii around libraries, (2) defines “funding units” by linking service-population bands to estimated staffing levels, and (3) converts those units into dollars using an average cost input. The board and partners were presented with modeling showing a minimum implementation increase for all partners, targeted scale-up timetables for Aloha and Forest Grove, and a proposal for WCCLS to centralize physical collections beginning in July 2027.

Staff said the county’s objective is to finalize a methodology the board can authorize so partner jurisdictions can complete budget planning and conclude IGAs before the current agreements expire. “Our goal is to communicate the initial year 1 funding allocation by December 2025,” assistant county administrator Marnie Kyle told the board.

Why it matters: the proposal would reallocate county levy and general-fund support across cities and nonprofit-managed libraries in Washington County and would become the basis for annual allocations and the IGAs that spell out how partners operate the system. Staff stressed the plan depends on the property-tax levy…