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Multnomah County Library lays out staffing plan, capital needs and a smaller digital‑holds policy to balance tighter property‑tax forecasts
Summary
Library leaders told the Board the district faces slowing property‑tax growth, rising personnel and internal‑service costs, and a multi‑year transition as new buildings come online. The FY26 budget includes a staffing plan for new spaces, a $3.5 million transfer to a bond fund, and a proposed cap on digital holds to curb collection costs.
Multnomah County Library directors presented the district and department budgets and a multi‑year staffing plan, saying property‑tax growth has slowed while personnel and internal‑service costs continue to rise. The board heard that FY26 will be a year of transition—several bond‑funded buildings will be fully operational in FY27—and that the library is using one‑time resources and a narrowly targeted set of changes to maintain services while planning for longer‑term adjustments.
Director of Libraries Annie Lewis told the board the FY26 approved library‑department budget totals $123.3 million, with ongoing spending of $117.3 million and $5.9 million in one‑time special projects. Katie Shifley, finance director for the library, said the district is operating at a $1.4 million deficit for FY26 under a continuing levy rate of $1.22 per $1,000 assessed value and is forecasting further deficits in FY27 and beyond. The library forecast includes the option of raising the levy to the voter‑approved maximum rate of $1.24 in a later year to help close the gap.
Jeff Renfro from the county Budget Office outlined the revenue pressures: large downtown office properties have continued declines in real market value that are pulling down assessed value and limiting the district's ability to exceed the 3% floor in property‑tax growth. Renfro also noted that new tax‑increment‑finance (TIF) districts and multifamily tax exemptions reduce assessed‑value growth available to the district, which depresses long‑term revenue prospects.
To address near‑term needs while the county opens new libraries, the FY26 budget contains a detailed staffing plan: the library added about 2.5 FTE in the proposed budget (rising to 4 FTE after a planned foundation amendment) to staff new larger spaces, support environment management and maintain programs. The library said it will continue to align staff to service priorities such as core in‑building services, information and referral, the public catalog and programming.
Library leaders said the system will invest in safety and security: direct security spending in FY26 is budgeted at $3.9 million, a substantial increase since 2019; the county and the library will continue to refine staffing and contracted security arrangements, combine patrol support from County workplace security and add peer‑support specialists at Central Library. Staff described a forthcoming evaluation framework that will track training, de‑escalation outcomes, incident‑to‑door‑count ratios and other measures.
Digital collections costs have also risen sharply since the pandemic. To reduce pressure on the materials budget, the library plans to reduce the maximum number of digital holds per patron from 20 to 10, a change staff estimate will save about $150,000 in FY26.
On capital, the library plans a $3.5 million transfer to the library bond fund from the district capital fund (proceeds from the Gresham Library sale) and has updated a 20‑year infrastructure projection based on facility‑condition assessments. Library leadership emphasized the difference between bond‑funded renovations and the district's ongoing pay‑as‑you‑go capital needs and said they will continue collaborating with the Department of County Assets on internal‑service rate assumptions for new buildings.
The library's Community Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC) — which reviewed the budget and recommended priorities — told the board it supported the budget package and urged continued assessment of program reductions and transparency on internal‑service rates. CBAC representatives noted support for keeping personnel intact this year and backing the staffing plan for the new modernized buildings.
What’s next: the board and staff flagged the need to monitor patron satisfaction, the security evaluation outcomes and the long‑term capital funding strategy as buildings come online. The library said it will also carry out a qualitative 2025 patron outreach effort, focusing on communities of color and groups underrepresented in survey responses, to better understand the effects of temporary service shifts and program changes.
