The Columbia County board reviewed and confirmed a reduced 2025 budget for library operations at $492,320, citing smaller-than-expected revenue after a local pulp mill closure and sale.

Speaker 1 (board member) said the board’s initial forecast was $507,000 and that the figure was trimmed through a series of reductions to reach the signed $492,320 total. "Initial budget forecast was $507,000," Speaker 1 said, adding later, "So basically, our final budget that we signed was 492,320." Speaker 1 also noted the board approved a 1% increase with four members voting yes and one abstaining during the finalization process.

Speaker 5 (presenter) told the board, "Our estimated revenue for 2025 is down from last year due to the, that, alternative pulp mill closure and sale, but it's not down by that much." The presenter said the largest ongoing costs remain staff wages and fixed items such as insurance and utilities, and described targeted cuts: travel and training were reduced, DVD purchases were scaled back substantially, and book purchases were trimmed from 30 new books per month to 20.

The board discussed more granular changes: book-club purchases were reduced (from 5 copies of a title per club to keeping 2 copies after the club), and the board explored replacing a roughly $13,000-per-year contracted yard-service with a less expensive option. The presenter identified one capital expenditure on the list for the year: replacing temporary "wheelie cart" storage with actual bookcases for the board’s collections.

On staffing, the presenter said one employee recently resigned after commuting from the Tri-Cities area and the position is in the process of being filled; board members warned that trimming full-time positions could complicate scheduling and service continuity.

Why this matters: the cuts affect circulating materials, scheduled programming capacity and facility maintenance. Board members asked about revenue sources and were told the revenue estimate comes from the levy and that investment interest has helped keep the budget balanced in recent years.

The board completed the public review of the budget and moved on to other business; no additional formal votes on budget line items are recorded in the public transcript.

Next steps: the board noted a member’s term expires in March and that they will address appointments; the meeting later moved to an executive session on personnel.