At Spokane Public Library, one of our core values is to spend public funds responsibly. We recognize that your hard-earned tax-payer dollars fund library services, and we don’t take that for granted. We work hard to run the library efficiently to maintain your trust.
In our research of how we compare to other libraries, we’ve found that we are one of the most efficient libraries in the West—consistently doing more with less money.
Where your money goes
The library makes up just 3.5% of the City’s overall biennium budget.
Our budget of $14.5M provides resources and services for 1.3 million customers annually. That equates to around $11 per visitor (based on gate count alone, not including online services). At Spokane Public Library, customers have access to safe spaces, information, entertainment, education, connection, and digital resources that are unmatched and not freely available anywhere else in our community.
Here is the breakdown of where those funds go:
- Staffing (71%) With 134 total staff, we have the leanest staff structure of a library system of our size. Salaries, wages, and benefits are our number one expense.
- Services, Property, and Supplies (13%) These line items are dedicated to maintaining grounds, buildings, insurance, public technology, and everyday operational supplies.
- Books and Materials (9%) This is how we buy all physical books, DVDs, e-books, and audiobooks. Our digital collection has outpaced the physical collection in terms of popularity and circulation, which provides additional burden to our budget as e-books and audiobooks are notoriously expensive for libraries compared to the individual consumer. (You can read more about that here: The True Cost of eBooks and Audiobooks for Libraries.)
- Interfund Charges (3%) This includes a wide range of administrative support from the City, including: staffing and administrative support from the City Clerk’s Office, City Council, Mayor’s Office, Finance, and continuous improvement teams, as well as centralized accounting and payroll processing, MySpokane deposit processing, Information Technology support, software and security services, database administration, and fuel from the City’s fleet fueling center.
- Utilities (3%) Thanks to the 2018 bond measure upgrades to our HVAC and lighting, our buildings are incredibly efficient to run. In the coming years, the library faces WA State Clean Energy Efficiency Standards for two of our branches.
We are pulling from reserves
Many libraries have reserves to pull from when times are hard. Think of reserves as your emergency savings. As expenses continue to rise while funding has remained flat or has decreased, the library has had to rely heavily on its reserves to cover the difference. Key cost drivers include growing demand for digital materials, inflation, and higher insurance costs. If we were to continue at the current rate without sufficient funding allocation from the City, we would end up with negative $2.5 million in reserves within two years. However, because we are responsible with tax-payer funds, we would not let it get to this point.
Why Cuts are Difficult
If we do not receive adequate funding, we would need to cut 16% of our total budget. We’ve identified some of these possible cuts in this blog post. However, those cuts would be difficult because we already operate so efficiently.
Reducing hours or closing branches does not provide substantial savings. For example, closing all branches on Sundays and Mondays would only save 3% or approximately $400,000, nowhere near enough to bridge the gap. Reducing hours would have a deep impact on Spokane residents. The actual financial savings would be insubstantial.
Spokane Public Library has taken significant steps to reduce expenses in response to rising costs. The library has not hired vacant positions, restricted travel, reduced collection spending, and delayed major purchases to manage the budget responsibly. While these measures have helped slow spending, they are not sustainable in the long-term and do not fully address the growing financial gap. Without additional funding or structural changes, the library will face more significant service and operational reductions soon.
Protecting Library Services for the Future
We have informed the Spokane City Council and Mayor Brown on the library’s financial outlook: We cannot operate in 2027 at our current service level without a greater financial commitment from the city.
Spokane Public Library serves as a primary site for economic development, digital equity, public safety, family support, neighborhood engagement, resource navigation, a platform for arts and culture, a resiliency hub, and a safe place for all. We remain hopeful hope that a commitment of funding will allow us to continue these valuable services to all who call Spokane home.
— Andrew Chanse, Executive Director, Spokane Public Library
For more on this topic read: Library Funding 101 and Your Library // Your Investment.
