Community ClicksAll branches of the North Olympic Library System, including the Sequim Library, will be closed from Monday, March 29, through Saturday, April 3, as a cost-saving measure.
All employees will be on an unpaid furlough leave during this time.
The library’s Web site will not be available, bins for returning library materials will be locked, community meeting rooms will not be available, and all NOLS buildings will go dark.
All libraries will reopen for business Monday, April 5, at their regular times.
The salary savings during this one-week period will amount to about $35,000.
Other savings in such areas as utilities are estimated to be about $1,000.
The Library Board is implementing this library closure, and a second one in late summer 2010, to help close an anticipated $163,000 budget shortfall.
The balance of the shortfall will be made up by other personnel reductions, buying fewer new books and other materials, and by transferring approximately $88,000 from the library district’s reserve funds.
The budget gap is the result of the cumulative effects of inflation, the loss of timber revenue, and Washington law which caps the library’s property tax budget at no more than a 1-percent increase per year without a vote of the people.
The Library Board is considering asking the voters of Clallam County to approve a property tax levy rate increase from 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to 50 cents per $1,000 in November 2010.
The dates of March 29 to April 3 and Aug. 30 to Sept. 4 were selected for several reasons.
Two separate, one-week closures allow the library to maximize the savings derived from shuttering its buildings and technology.
These dates also minimize the impact on the library’s staff by allowing them to spread what is the equivalent of a 3.8 percent wage cut over four paychecks (March, April, August and September).
The library system employs 51 people throughout Clallam County, 45 of whom are members of the union Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
For more information about the upcoming library closure visit, www.nols.org or contact Paula Barnes, library director, at 360-417-8525 or Director@nols.org.
