TRL slashes budget, plans layoffs
Published 1:30 am Friday, February 27, 2026
Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series that will explore Timberland Regional Library’s current budget situation and place in the community.
Earlier this month, PBS premiered The Librarians, a documentary that profiled how librarians are navigating attacks and undermining by government officials and members of the public because of their efforts to curate library collections that reflect the diversity of lived experiences within their respective communities. In the situations highlighted in the documentary, it is external forces, a small but vocal group of citizens, school board members and legislators, causing the upheaval for library staff.
Timberland Regional Library (TRL) is experiencing upheaval too. However, its upheaval appears caused by internal forces, a collision of declining revenues, overspending and lost trust in senior management. For the three-and-a-half-hour virtual budget workshop held on Feb. 10, nearly 300 people attended, with dozens making comments staying until the very end. This was also the case at the February Board of Trustees meeting held on Feb. 25 that lasted three-and-a-half hours in total, including a 70-minutes executive session.
Public outcry appears to have been building over the past few years and has now exploded in response to the budget crisis.
If there is one takeaway from the comments that The Daily World has received, it’s that the community passionately cares about the libraries and their staff. And unlike the members of the public who attacked the librarians in The Librarians in an effort to undermine the library system, these community members want to support and reinforce it.
Budget Crisis
On Jan. 29, TRL Executive Director Cheryl Heywood issued a press release announcing a projected budget shortfall for 2026.
“TRL’s Fund Balance Management Policy requires that we begin each year with 30% of estimated revenues available. After all financial documentation had been completed for December 2025, a review of the beginning fund balance for 2026 revealed that TRL is facing an immediate budget shortfall, and an additional projected shortfall at the end of the year, due to year-over-year rising costs, a decreasing levy rate, and limited annual revenue,” Heywood wrote. “In the months ahead, our communities will begin to see the impacts of actions we must take to reduce expenditures, including an estimated $1.8 million reduction to the collections budget resulting in fewer new materials purchased, a drawing down of paid performers and presenters resulting in fewer library programs and a reduction to the amount of free printing offered to $20 per month effective March 1. Less-visible operational changes will include significant cutbacks to supplies and non-essential purchases, as well as limiting employee travel for conferences and training. Finally, we have implemented a hiring freeze, effective immediately, and have begun planning for staffing reductions to be effective as of May 1.“
This press release and subsequent budget workshop conducted on Feb.10 prompted immediate and emotional public reaction. Letters to the editor of The Daily World, posts on Facebook and Reddit and emails and letters to TRL board of trustees repeated a similar observation — TRL should have seen the budget shortfall coming, library staff should not be laid off and executive leadership makes too much money.
“This is not an unanticipated situation. In fact, 2022 was the last year that revenues comfortably covered all expenditures. In subsequent years we have made organizational changes and utilized new technologies to offset negative impacts to services and programs and continue to provide quality library service to our communities with increasingly limited resources,” Heywood wrote. “However, we have now reached a point where expenditures are outpacing revenues beyond what we can manage through incremental adjustments, and we must make hard decisions.”
TRL’s funding sources, which are outlined on TRL’s website, are, “As a special purpose taxing district, Timberland Regional Library is funded primarily through local property taxes – 93.7% as of 2026. In order to estimate the amount of property taxes Timberland will receive annually, the district calculates the levy rate based on property tax and new construction values provided by the five counties’ Assessor’s offices. This levy rate and estimated property tax revenue must be adopted by the Board of Trustees as part of the budget adoption process in December of each year and certified to the Board of County Commissioners for each county in the region. A smaller proportion of library revenues – around 5.4% in 2026 – comes from county timber revenue. As a category, timber revenue includes revenue derived from timber excise taxes, Department of Natural Resources trusts, county and State Forest Board timber sales and other related sources.”
When looking at the revenue and expenditure over the past four years, both revenues and expenditures have increased.
2022
Revenue: $25.9 million
Expenditures: $24.6 million
2023
Revenue: $26.1 million
Expenditures: $27.1 million
2024
Revenue: $26.9 million
Expenditures: $28.5 million
2025
Revenue: $27.1 million
Expenditures: $30.4 million
2026 preliminary budget
Revenue: $29 million
Expenditures: $32.8 million
According to TRL annual reports, salaries and benefits make up the largest portion of annual expenditures, with salaries increasing from $11.7 million in 2018 to $17.1 million budgeted for 2026 before proposed staff cuts.
AFSCME 3758-B represents the employees of TRL. Its Feb. 6 press release stated that, “Executive Director Cheryl Heywood announced a series of cost-cutting measures, including a drastic cut to the budget for new library materials and a sudden massive reduction in frontline staffing through layoffs, which may potentially lead to many library buildings operating without staff in the near future. But what frustrates library workers is that, only a few months ago, TRL’s administration claimed the budget was in good health. TRL’s Board of Trustees must have believed those assurances when they approved the 2026 budget on December 30th, since they approved 15% budgeted increases for the two top administrators below the Director, as compared to the 2025 budget. The library’s own budget and funding FAQs do not provide clear or full context or explanation for decisions like this which were made when preparing the 2026 numbers. And now, TRL is facing an immediate budget shortfall, a predicted additional shortfall, and layoff notices that will be sent out by the end of this month.”
During the Feb.10 budget workshop, Heywood explained that the salaries throughout TRL and for the top executives were justified.
“We have given compensation packages over the years to be as competitive as we can be. We have also reduced administration. People said in 2018, 2019, start at the top. We started at the top. I had nine direct reports in 2013. I now have three,” Heywood said. “So when people ask why people are earning more money, it’s because they have taken on substantially more responsibilities in their job description.”
TRL annual budget reports provide a breakdown of the salaries and by comparing the budgets year to year, it’s possible to see the increases, both in salary and positions.
In the Administration unit of TRL:
The human resources administrator’s salary increased from $98,828 in 2023 to $120,077 in 2025 and $142,963 in 2026.
TRL also added an employee experiences advisor position at an annual salary of $120,376 in 2025, and is budgeted for $127,335 in 2026.
The administrative coordinator, whose position listed is under the executive director, made $89,554 in 2023, was re-titled as executive administrator in 2024 at $95,931 and was bumped to $115,718 in 2025 and $133,760 for 2026.
Heywood’s salary has increased from $155,000 in 2023 to $189,000 in 2024 and to $206,788 in 2025. A third position, special projects coordinator, was added to administration for 2026 at a salary of $105,847.
The three positions under the administration classification are scheduled to make a total of $446,395 in 2026.
In a letter to the editor of The Daily World, Lilly Pomeroy, president of the Friends of the WH Abel Memorial Timberland Library in Montesano expressed her frustration with executive salaries.
“Now we are being told that TRL will have to layoff 30 staff members and turn even more libraries into libraries without staff because they suddenly discovered at the end of January a $3.5 million dollar deficit in the 2026 budget,” Pomeroy wrote. “However, in November TRL felt they were doing so well fiscally that the director recommended to the TRL board of Trustees a 15% raise for the top two administrators below her. How does such mismanagement happen overnight? TRL says it is because their fiscal year did not end until Jan. 31, 2026. At that time, they discovered that they had spent more money in 2025 than they should have. Why? A wise man does not consider a project without considering the cost. I propose that the three top administrators have an immediate 30% reduction in pay. This would mean that the 15% pay raise approved in November would be rescinded and those two individuals will receive a 15% reduction in pay. The board of trustees approved it, they can rescind it.”
During a 90-minute public comment period during the budget workshop on Feb. 10, many people lodged vehement protests about the prospect of frontline library staff layoffs. Dozens more made impassioned pleas against cutting staff during the Feb. 25 Board of Trustees meeting as well.
In an interview with The Daily World, Mary Prophit,the former manager of the Mountain View Timberland Library in Randle, that countless library patrons throughout the TRL system will be hurt by layoffs of frontline staff.
“The elderly person who doesn’t know how to use a printer. The little kid whose mom says that my kid really loves magic books. ‘Can you help me find some more?’ Just all those people. The social isolation of people, the human connection, it’s so valuable. There’s so much fake news, who is there to help people discern that? Librarians. Their job is to find accurate information. Who else can you trust to go to to get help and accurate information? That’s what they’re for. They’re the great equalizer of information for everybody,” Prophit said. “If you’re poor and you can’t afford internet at home, if you’re temporarily homeless or you’re living in a trailer or you’re in transition or you’re going through a divorce or domestic abuse, that’s the safe place to go to get help. … When they were suggesting to the trustees in 2018, close all these libraries, because we need to do mobile out here. I think it was the Mason County trustee, she said, ‘You know what, I wanna visit every library, I wanna see for myself. She came to my library on a Saturday and she saw a craft program going on for adults, she saw teens hanging out in the teen zone, she saw a family with little children. She saw all the stuff and she looked around and I said to her, ‘where you’re standing right now is the only wi-fi in this community, there is no other free place to go and get an internet connection in our rural area other than this building’ and she said ‘my eyes have been opened.’”
The AFSCME press release added its voice to the chorus calling for a review or audit of TRL’s finances and budgeting process, “… AFSCME Local 3758-B is calling on the Board of Trustees and County Commissioners to launch an independent, thorough investigation into TRL’s finances and budget forecasting process. We demand a complete, measured plan that doesn’t involve layoffs to any of the lower level frontline staff who keep our libraries open.”
After the Feb. 25 Board of Trustees meeting that started at 5:30 p.m. and ended at 9, the trustees consisting of Brian Mittge, Dustin Loup, Toni Gwin, Mary Beth Harrington and Hal Blanton, voted to adopt the budget adjustment and to approve “force reduction” measures. The budget adjustment that was passed includes $2.3 million in cuts, including $1.9 in books and materials.
“We’ve kept the board in communication, we’ve communicated with the board … We have been working closely with our union, and closely with our board on ‘impact bargaining,’” Heywood said just before the force reduction vote. “At this point it still remains confidential and we can’t go into specifics.”
After the vote passed, Mittge said, “At this point we’re going to look to make some reductions in force, some staff cuts. We have been in conversations with our union on behalf of our employees, productive discussions and those continue.”
Kylie McQuarrie, who has been active regarding TRL issues on Reddit, expressed her dismay in a letter she sent to the Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners.
“After a 75-minute closed-door executive session, the Board voted to ignore community members’ deeply expressed concerns and sanction the administration’s choice to cut over 50 staff; move multiple rural branches to fully automated, staffless buildings; and slash hours at several other rural branches,” McQuarrie wrote. “Layoff notices will go out this Sunday to take effect May 1, and our communities will start to feel the impact immediately. More than 50 staff members will be laid off, which impacts over 1/5 of the library’s frontline staff, at minimum. This decision was made by five unelected officials with no library experience working in concert with four overpaid, underqualified administrative officials. Zero members of the Board or administration have the financial experience necessary to make such economically devastating decisions. This complete and total mismanagement of taxpayer funds and the refusal to listen to the clear public demand is an embarrassing display of incompetence and a willful dismissal of the public’s clearly stated wishes.”
John C. Hughes, a former The Daily World editor and publisher who covered the formation of TRL as a reporter, summed it up this way …
“Incredible. Incompetence merits a raise while the dedicated people in the trenches face layoffs,” Hughes said via email. “I couldn’t put it any better than the taxpayer who admonished the trustees that they serve the public, not an administration that has utterly failed TRL’s staff and patrons. If this decision is not mitigated, it will be the darkest moment in the nearly 60-year history of a vital five-county regional library network.”
