Public comments decry library cuts during Springfield Budget Committee meeting

One of the first things the Matthews family did after moving to Springfield 10 years ago was get library cards. 

“Unfortunately, now my youngest daughter, after years of watching her older siblings go to teen program events, is almost old enough to participate in teen activities, but because of cuts that have already happened, nothing will be offered,” Jocelyn Matthews said in public testimony to the Springfield Budget Committee Monday, May 4. 

The proposed 2027 city budget calls for a reduction in library staffing, including the teen service librarian. That librarian left her position voluntarily in April after receiving notice of a layoff effective June 30, a city spokesperson said. 

“Please continue to fund the library,” Matthews said. “If anything, increase its funding. I want other families and community members to be able to have the same access to experiences and learning and reading that my family has enjoyed over the years.”

In her public comment, Alyxandra Mixer called for the firing of City Manager Nancy Newton for taking a pay increase and eliminating the two librarian positions.

“Perhaps it’s time to look inward for budget cuts instead of wringing out services like our library that is equally as important for our community as our healthcare workers,” Mixer said. 

Matthews and Mixer were among eight community members who spoke out against library cuts at the meeting, which took place at the Springfield Justice Center and was the first of three days of budget committee meetings to review the proposed 2027 budget. 

The remaining two meetings are at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, May 5-6, at the Springfield Justice Center, 230 Fourth Street. They are open to the public but will not include public comment on the city’s budget. The budget committee also accepted written comments on the proposed budget.

Tuesday, the committee will review the Springfield Economic Development Agency 2027 budget, take public comment, deliberate and vote on approval of the agency budget. Then the committee will begin deliberations on the city budget, which it will continue Wednesday before voting on the proposal.

The committee, comprising six city councilors and six community members appointed by the council, may adjust the proposed budget. After the committee approves the budget, it goes to the City Council, which will hold a public hearing June 15 before voting to adopt the budget. The fiscal year begins July 1.

“The Budget Committee’s role is to review the proposed budget and provide input, and then the mayor and City Council retain responsibility for final decisions and adoption,” Newton said during the meeting. 

City using reserves to balance budget

Newton said Springfield, like most Oregon cities, is facing structural financial constraints. 

“The cost of providing services, including public safety, infrastructure and meeting state and federal requirements, continue to outpace revenue growth,” she said. “These obligations are largely outside of the city’s control and are often not fully funded. Inflation, increasing service demands further limit our flexibility.”

Finance Director Nathan Bell said there’s more public interest in this year’s budget process than he has experienced during his 20-year tenure. This is the first budget cycle after the mayor’s Fiscal Stability Take Force reviewed the city’s budget and made recommendations to balance Springfield’s general fund. 

Those recommendations include increasing the city’s fire levy to cover the full cost of a fifth engine crew, which voters passed in November, and reducing the library budget by $500,000.

“We didn’t do a $500,000 reduction, but we did do a $310,000 reduction,” Bell said. 

The task force also recommended the city implement a payroll tax, which is scheduled for a final reading at a June 1 City Council meeting. 

“It hasn’t been adopted,” Bell said. “So at this point, we’re not counting that until we know that it’s a certain thing.”

He said the city is using $450,000 in reserves to balance the 2027 budget. That comes out of the city’s ending cash balance, which Bell said is projected to be 26% of operating expenditures after the deficit spend. He said if that percentage drops below 25% it would negatively impact the city’s bond rating, leading to higher interest rates when it borrows money.

“That’s something we’re being really mindful of when we put our budget together,” Bell said. 

He showed the committee a general fund five-year forecast and said the city’s projected deficit spend in fiscal year 2028 will push that ending cash as a percent of operating expenditures to 20%. 

The five-year forecast, which shows an accumulated $14 million deficit spend, doesn’t include deferred maintenance on city facilities and infrastructure or the financial impact of restructuring the city’s fire department, Bell said. 

He said the city’s financial structural imbalance is largely due to Measures 5 and 50, which passed in the 1990s and capped property taxes, which make up the majority of the general fund’s revenue. 

Since then, the city has cut staffing, going from 4.94 full-time equivalent employees per 1,000 residents in 1997 to 3.42 today, he said. 

“What’s the right number?” Bell said “I don’t know, but I can tell you that 3.42 is lean.”

Library to review programming in six months

Each department head provided an overview of their budget to the committee, with many mentioning how the city’s needs are becoming more complex as Springfield grows. 

Emily David, director of the library and history museum, said her department will have 11 full-time equivalent employees dedicated to library services with the proposed budget cuts. 

“That’s the smallest the staffing has been in the nearly 18 years that I’ve been here,” she said. “And that will also mean a reduction in our hours, which will be the fewest hours that we’ve been open in my tenure.”

According to the proposed budget, the library will close on Mondays in addition to being closed on Sundays. 

The library will cut some programming and eliminate most of its outreach, “and that’s difficult, because that’s how we reach the greater community,” David said. She said there will be a survey for community members to weigh in on what library and museum services are important to them.

“We will be working on, how do we right fit our services for the community?” she said. 

David said the library had to cut its teen programming and teen advisory board with the loss of its teen services librarian. She said the library will focus on maintaining programs in the areas of early literacy and literacy in general, as well as tech help and Spanish language and cultural programming. 

“We’ll have a six-month review next year of our programming and if we’re hitting the right place for both the community and the capacity of our staff,” David said. 

She noted that in early 2027, the library will recruit for a new director ahead of her retirement that July. 

“There’s quite a bit of change and uncertainty coming up for our department, and what I can say is that I know that our staff will continue to welcome people into our space in a very respectful way and continue to meet their needs as they come through the door,” David said. “I also just want to say that libraries remain vitally important as third spaces, and so I really think it’s important that we find sustainable funding for our library going forward.”