County closes two libraries

Many staffers lose hours, benefits

“…they’re gutting our little community,” Chelsea Yates of Deaver addressed the Big Horn County Library board, holding back tears, at their Tuesday, Aug. 12 meeting. 

The Big Horn County library system faces a $70,000 cut in county funds this year, 20% of last year’s budget. As a result, the county’s three largest libraries; Lovell, Basin and Greybull, have faced reduced hours and the removal of benefits for all staff members. Its smallest libraries, Frannie and Deaver, were given the axe as of Sept. 1. 

Next year, property tax cuts are expected to tank the budget even more. 

COMMISSION CUTS

“Why are we getting these cuts this year? That is something I have asked, and [the commissioners] don’t have an answer… They told us 10% and we could have dealt with that… and then they said 20%,” board member Lea Sorensen said on Tuesday. 

Commissioners made cuts across the board this budget season, with elections taking a 59% hit, emergency management down 55% and local emergency planning down 30% to name a few. Grant money overall has reduced with ARPA funds, leaving Big Horn County Search and Rescue with almost $57,000 less in their budget. 

The commission did not reply to requests for comment before deadline. 

“We have cut to the bone. I don’t know where else we can cut,” Sorensen said of the library budget. 

Library board president Nikole Greene and board member Cari Waterworth attended the Big Horn County Commissioners’ Aug. 5 meeting to address maintenance costs on the county-owned library buildings in Basin and Lovell, amounting to $9,419 covered through the library’s budget. 

Currently, the Lovell library pays $1,292 a year in grounds maintenance. Library director Tina Ely reported to the board that in Basin, utilities bills range from $700-$800 a month. Custodian wages amount to $7,377 for both libraries. The library board asked for county assistance in covering maintenance costs and in turn was presented with a lease proposal. 

Lovell and Basin libraries have operated out of county-owned buildings with no lease in place since their implementation. County Maintenance Supervisor Jeremy Pouska said that in the past, the county has been happy to help the libraries with maintenance when requested; however there is no written agreement as to what each entity is expected to address. Upon notification of the library board members’ attendance, the county drafted a lease agreement for the Basin library “in an effort to be equitable” to all the organizations that lease county buildings. Leadership was uncertain of the Lovell building’s status at the time and therefore unprepared to propose a similar agreement for that building. 

The lease would require the library to maintain the buildings’ day-to-day upkeep, while the county maintains the grounds. The suggested rent would be $1 a year.

“I mean, you need to come up with $9,500, I don’t know where we would get it. We just cut everything back,” commissioner Mike Jolley said to board members. 

Chair Deb Craft added, “Everybody’s hurting, and unfortunately, we just think next year is going to be even worse with the property tax stuff.”

A lease agreement had yet to be established last week. 

LIBRARIANS TAKE A HIT

On top of reduced staff hours – Lovell losing 10 a week, Greybull and Basin down 12 – librarians at all three have agreed to take on some janitorial duties to reduce that part of the library budget. 

“There’s so much that these women, because they’re all women… are doing other than checking books in and checking books out. Their hours are considerably cut, and we’re just hoping they can still continue to get all of that programming done and get all of that stuff done with less hours,” Ely told the board on Tuesday. 

“While asking them to maintain buildings,” Greene added, with no workman’s comp.

Three library managers and Ely agreed to give up their Wyoming retirement benefits, amounting to $24,000. Commissioners requested confirmation on the legality of this concession, should it prove faulty that money will have to be cut elsewhere. 

In addition, all library employees gave up their three personal paid days off. Ely forfeited reimbursement for her mileage driving between towns. Troy Butler, who handles the library’s bookkeeping, agreed to a 20% decrease in the cost of his accounting services. 

Before cuts, Lovell salaries were $51,000, Basin $50,000 and Greybull $45,000 for three employees in each branch. Commissioners suggested a cut to Ely’s $42,000 salary to add hours for payroll and grant writing to managers’ positions. 

“When this county ran into having to cut people before, the people within the departments agreed to cut their wages so that a person didn’t get cut…that was sacrifices that this county’s departments have made before, so I think they can look a little deeper here,” Craft said. 

Grants and Friends of the Library donations are not able to cover salaries or operating expenses. 

FRANNIE AND DEAVER 

Frannie and Deaver’s libraries are run out of town-owned buildings at no charge to the county. Between the two of them, the county budgeted $8,000 for salary. The library board voted to cut this funding, essentially shuttering the libraries, effective September 1. 

Several members of the Deaver community attended Tuesday’s library board meeting. 

“It’s our ox that got gored and died, or is scheduled to die,” citizen Melvyn Wambeke addressed the board. 

Previously, Melvyn and Sally Wambeke had proposed a 25% cut in Frannie and Deaver’s library hours -- already only operating four hours a week -- to be equalized by cuts in the larger libraries’ hours. This would prevent a 100% shutdown, the Wambekes suggested. 

However, the decision for closure was already finalized and the library board did not double back, with concerns that even more cuts would have to be made to the budget. Board members apologized to the Deaver and Frannie communities, saying that they did not want closures. 

“By statute, we have one library to provide per county,” commissioner Craft said Aug. 5. She added that due to the size of the county, she believed a north and south library are needed. 

Tuesday, the library board voted to close the Frannie-Deaver bank account, which put roughly $200 back in the library’s general fund. 

The towns of Frannie and Deaver have stepped up to keep their libraries open without county assistance. They will lose roughly 60 books between the two towns but maintain the library donations their communities have generated over the years, the majority of their shelves. 

Deaver voted last week to keep the library open with volunteer help, pending approval from their insurance provider. This should add no additional costs to the town’s budget. 

“I think there’s a lot of people and kids that use it. I know there’s not a lot of heavy traffic, but the library is a value added, an asset to our community,” Deaver mayor Bill Camp said in an interview on Friday. “We value education, which it’s a part of, and encourage everybody to use it in some way.”

The Town of Frannie has instated a similar system. The library board has requested a bookmobile from Park County be brought to Frannie, as it spans county lines. Deaver and Frannie residents will still be able to utilize county-owned books, but no longer through their local libraries. 

Libraries will heavily lean on volunteers to ease the burden on librarians this year. 

“Even with doing this, we are a sinking ship of volunteers trying to keep our county with some sort of library system, period,” Sorensen said.