The Timberland Regional Library staff union raised concerns about future layoffs and called for an independent investigation into the library network’s budget problems in a news release.

According to the release, AFSCME 3758-B is calling for no layoffs.

“Last week, management at Timberland Regional Library (TRL) made a stunning announcement — a $3.5 million dollar deficit had been discovered in the budget, and in addition TRL was no longer able to meet their required 30% reserve in the 2026 budget’s beginning general fund balance,” union spokesperson Beth Gawne said in the release. “And to address this shortfall, 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.”

TRL spokesperson Anna Lisa Rasmussen said last month that the administration is still drafting plans related to staffing reductions and exploring options to “limit the number of impacted staff as much as possible within budget constraints.”

She said they anticipate reductions to affect a limited number of positions, but she was unable to share which positions and libraries would be affected.

“Our priority is to minimize impacts on library services for patrons and communities,” she said. “We are carefully evaluating options with the goal of maintaining core services and access across the district.”

According to the union release, library workers are frustrated that TRL’s administration said that the budget was in good health just a few months ago.

“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,” Gawne said in the release.

Gawne said in the release that the plan to send out layoff notices at the end of the month is a “reckless plan” that has “the potential to devastate library services for hundreds of thousands of people in our region.”

Gawne said that the library’s budget issues can also be blamed on the 1% property tax levy cap that’s been in place since 2001, which has kept TRL’s budget behind inflation.

“Nevertheless, it is the library administration’s responsibility to take these facts into account, budget accordingly, and go to the ballot for levy lid lifts before a crisis,” she said in the release. “For the sake of the library’s continued existence, TRL administrators must be held accountable when they fail.”

According to the release, the staff union is calling on the Board of Trustees and Thurston County Commissioners to launch an independent 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,” Gawne said in the release.