Layoffs avoided at Tacoma libraries with $1M added to budget, but impacts remain
Employees at Tacoma public libraries will no longer face layoffs due to an amendment to the 2021-22 city budget passed by City Council on Nov. 24.
The amendment adds $1 million to the Tacoma Public Library (TPL) budget, which totals $28 million.
Library staff raised the alarm in October that they faced a $2.2 million cut that would lead to reductions in programs and services and elimination of 22 library staff members, including three branch managers, one supervisor, and 18 front line staff.
Following public outcry, an amendment to the budget was made to redirect $1 million to the library system. The city found the money after I-976, an initiative voters passed last year that sought to reduce the cost of car tabs, was struck down last month, freeing up dollars that would have otherwise gone to pay for transit projects impacted by the initiative, according to city budget director Katie Johnston.
Tacoma Public Library director Kate Larsen confirmed Nov. 25 there will be no layoffs but added there will be impacts to service.
After bargaining, employees agreed to absorb two weeks of furloughs each year of the biennium to offset the remaining $1 million loss to the budget, Larsen said in an email. Non-represented staff, including Larsen, will do the same.
The two-week furloughs are equivalent to a 4 percent reduction in pay for both years.
The bargaining units “worked together to come up with a ‘sliding scale’ approach to the pay reduction, so that our lowest paid workers will actually not experience any pay reduction; those that are paid higher wages are absorbing a higher reduction in pay to compensate for that,” Larsen said in an email.
During the furlough weeks, all libraries will be closed and services will be unavailable, Larsen said.
“Rather than close for two weeks at a time, TPL will close for one week, twice a year, both years of the biennium,” she said. “In an effort to minimize impacts on the public, TPL will choose furlough weeks that are traditionally slower; those dates have not yet been determined.”
Abbie Zulock, staff representative for AFSCME Local 120 library workers, said that the union and TPL management came to an agreement to avoid layoffs.
“Luckily, because City Council heard us and the community when we communicated the need to protect the Library’s budget and services, we were able to lower the reduction by $1 million,” she said in an email.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 11:52 AM.
