St. Helens library faces staff cuts and reduced hours as board hears budget plan

ST. HELENS, Ore. — At a meeting on May 11, the St. Helens Public Library Board heard pleas from patrons and a detailed briefing from Library Director Bishop that outlined staff reductions, a cutback in materials spending and shorter weekly hours if the city’s proposed 2026 budget moves forward as drafted.

"My concerns are, basically just seeing the budget cuts, seeing the employees that are being laid off," said Lindsay Preuss, a Saint Helens resident and library patron, during the public comment period. Her remarks reflected a wave of public testimony at the recent budget committee meeting urging officials not to reduce library services.

Director Bishop told the board the library is preparing a pared-down Summer Library Challenge (June 15–Aug. 8) and will rely more heavily on volunteers because part‑time library assistant positions are being eliminated. Bishop said part-time staff’s last day is June 19 and beginning June 22 the library will be closed Wednesdays and Thursdays — trimming open hours to about 29 per week from roughly 38. The library also plans a closure June 1–6 for internal reset and projects.

Bishop described steep line-item reductions in the proposed budget. She said staffing shifts and other adjustments account for roughly a $149,000 change in staffing-related lines, and that materials and services would see about a 24% reduction. She told the board the printed materials line was cut by about $32,000 and noted a data-entry error on one table that makes a particular figure closer to $187,000 than originally shown. "We could reduce our expenses on IT up to 80% because of the size of our community and ... the poverty level," Bishop said, describing the potential of the e-rate program if the library pursues that complex application and secures IT support.

Program reductions will be concentrated in regularly scheduled youth and makerspace offerings. Bishop said the makerspace allocation was reduced from an adopted $27,000 and the library will request about $4,500 to cover essential equipment repairs and limited supplies. Mobile hotspot subscriptions, part of the "Library of Things," remain among the costliest recurring items.

Mayor Massey addressed the board and proposed another approach to the city’s fiscal strain: create a dedicated public safety (police) fund so the remainder of general-fund revenues could be used to "make the library whole" and stabilize recreation and other nonpublic-safety services. "Fund the library and fund rec, stabilize your guys' departments, and then we work on police separately," he said, adding voters would ultimately decide any ballot measure. Board members pressed for clearer accounting of which revenue sources would move under such a plan and how baseline services would be defined.

The board heard that two main budget scenarios are under consideration: one that assumes passage of a $24 general-service fee (which would cover layoffs and furloughs) and an alternate plan that would move police spending into a separate fund while preserving the library budget. Bishop emphasized that a final course depends on the budget committee process and voter action.

The library plans furloughs of four hours per week for full-time staff and expects to absorb a material drop in program delivery and in-depth research support. To maintain core services, the library will lean on volunteers, adjust staffing coverage at the public desk (sometimes returning to single-staff coverage), and prioritize summer operations and critical functions.

The budget committee will meet again this week to hear department statements; the mayor and department heads will present details and the board will reconvene on July 13. "We'll figure it out," Bishop said. "Onward."