GREYBULL—“They’re gutting our little community,” Chelsea Yates of Deaver said, holding back tears, as she addressed the Big Horn County Library Board at its 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 closed permanently Monday.
Next year, property tax cuts are expected to deplete 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%,” library board member Lea Sorensen said at the August meeting.
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, including American Rescue Plan Act funds, has been reduced, leaving Big Horn County Search and Rescue with almost $57,000 less in its budget.
The commission did not reply to requests for comment by the Greybull Standard’s 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, utility 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.
“Everybody’s hurting, and unfortunately, we just think next year is going to be even worse with the property tax stuff.”
Deb Craft, Big Horn County Commission Chair
The lease would require the library to maintain the building’s 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 the library board members.
County Commission 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.”
Librarians take a hit
On top of reduced staff hours — Lovell losing 10 a week, Greybull and Basin down 12 — librarians in all three counties 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,” Ely told the board. “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.”
“While asking them to maintain buildings,” Greene added, with no workers’ compensation.
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 fees for 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. (Those were) 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.
“It’s our ox that got gored and died.”
Melvyn Wambeke
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 Monday.
Several members of the Deaver community attended the August library board meeting.
“It’s our ox that got gored and died,” citizen Melvyn Wambeke told 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 closure decision had already been finalized, and the library board did not double back, noting 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 the 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.
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.
The Town of Deaver voted last month to keep the library open with volunteer help, pending approval from the town’s 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 with the Greybull Standard.
“We value education, which it’s a part of, and encourage everybody to use it in some way,” he said.
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 use county-owned books, but no longer through their local libraries. Libraries will lean heavily 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.
Elections have consequences.
Vote for the rabid, get rabies.
(No)Freedom Caucus members won’t respond to their constituents.
Send those carpetbaggers packing!
So you people apparently just blame Trump for everything. Libraries are state funded not federal, property taxes are assessed by counties not the federal government and the state has been horrible with tax money. Tiny towns have no income to begin with but instead of trying to bring in jobs they would rather cry about no tax money. Guess what the five big cities are done paying for everyone else when they are denied funding with their own money.
Sorry John but your guy ( Trump) is directly or indirectly responsible for a large amount of the problems and chaos that is currently occuring nationally and globally right now whether you want to recognize it or not. I’m a life long Republican and what’s going on under this administration is not right or American.
In Bighorn County 85% of the votes went to Trump. You got what you ordered.
The freedom caucus, better known as a freedom cult is the cause of this.
Can’t really feel sorry, Wyoming voters made their bed, so enjoy lying in it
Well of course the first thing you close is the public libraries. An educated electorate is a threat to the cult.
“It’s our ox that got gored and died.” Melvin Wambeke
Such a good but sad statement. WE voted in the people that made these changes. The changes sounded good on paper but we forgot about the reality of “unintended consequences”. We forgot how our property taxes are used in our communities. Of course libraries are part of our communities as are our fire departments, conservation services, 4-H and the list goes on. I saw where elections are going to take a hit. I’m not sure if this is an intended consequence. I hope that it isn’t.
WE need to start asking questions and demanding answers from the people that WE voted into office. We don’t need excuses, we need solutions. Yes, we voted them in. Many won quite handily. Yes, I voted for a couple myself. So I’m not infallible in the issue.
Next year is our budget session. Hopefully, we can get some changes there in spite of the majority in the House. WE need to be discussing this with the people that WE voted into office. Are they going to do what’s best for their constituents or for the Freedom Caucus?
I sincerely hope that during the next election, while the Freedom Caucus is crowing about how many (short term) tax breaks they’ve given to Wyomingites, voters will open their eyes and notice the deteriorating conditions taking place in their communities due to the lack of tax dollars coming in to fund services. After realizing that these “leaders” only passed these tax breaks to buy votes without any concerns about the ramifications, maybe the citizens of this state will awaken to the fact that what’s happening in our country isn’t making America so great after all.
We added $4.1 trillion to the national debt by cutting taxes for the wealthiest, piled on billions in tariff revenues, just hidden taxes paid by you and me, yet we claim there’s nothing left for our children’s libraries, the very children who will carry this debt. Maybe it is time for a change. Anyone in favor of Term Limits?
Sorry Jimmy, but term limits really aren’t the issue in this. Electing people who have no idea of how government works, how services are funded, or how to understand the long-term effects of their legislation is the problem. If one looks at the legislators who are buying votes with unsustainable tax cuts, most wouldn’t have hit term limits anyway.
So it goes in the REPO state. Very sad that people are dumb enough to vote for fools.