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Library workers urge Beaverton council to question layoffs, spotlight police spending share
Summary
SEIU-represented library staff told the council they expect proposed layoffs in the coming draft budget and urged elected officials to scrutinize management-to-staff ratios and the size of the police share of the general fund.
Several Beaverton library employees and union representatives spoke at the council’s visitor-comment period on April 15, urging councilors to scrutinize the city’s preliminary budget and to avoid layoffs for represented staff.
Nicole Langley Peralta, who identified herself as a librarian and president of SEIU 503 sub-local 198, told council members the union has “good reason to believe [the draft budget] will propose a layoff.” She urged councilors to examine the draft carefully when it becomes public and to “ask questions and think critically about what is being proposed.”
“I have three examples,” Langley Peralta said. She cited city financial figures she said show revenues outpacing expenditures from 2020 to 2024, a persistent ending fund balance, and a two-year surplus she said totaled $10.7 million. She also told councilors that, based on city-provided data, departments with SEIU-represented employees have large proportions of management-level staff compared with represented staff.
Library worker Chuck Quilty, also a member of SEIU 503 sub-local 198, echoed those concerns and urged the council to put management positions at the front of any layoffs. “Managers in this city make an average of $50,000 more than an average represented employee,” Quilty said. He also said the city overestimated future costs by an average of $15.6 million per fiscal year from 2020 to 2024.
Both speakers questioned the police budget’s growth and size. Langley Peralta said the police budget accounts for 54% of the general fund; Quilty said police spending has grown 28% since 2020 while other general government spending grew by about a quarter as much. Langley Peralta used an example of two officers assigned to the library “beat” and said librarians are often the staff who deescalate and resolve incidents there.
Why it matters: Councilors are about to begin a review of the fiscal year 2025–26 draft budget; the city manager said the draft will be released at the end of the month and the budget committee will meet in May.
What the speakers asked for: Both requested that the city: make the draft public, explain any planned layoffs and the criteria for selecting positions, and consider alternatives to cutting represented employees. Langley Peralta asked councilors to “deliver a budget that is not only balanced but equitable.”
Council response and context: The city manager earlier in the meeting reminded the public that budget committee meetings are scheduled May 5 and May 19, and said a public hearing on the budget will occur June 3. Councilors did not take action during the visitor-comment period.
Numbers and claims presented: Speakers cited several financial summaries and ratios that they said were based on city-provided or public data, including an average annual overestimate of $15.6 million in projected expenditures (2020–24), a two-year surplus totaling $10.7 million, and a claim that the police budget represents about 54% of the general fund. These figures were presented by speakers and not verified in real time by staff at the meeting.
