The Timberland Regional Library (TRL) will officially run a levy lid lift on the November 2026 ballot.
The TRL Board of Trustees voted unanimously Wednesday, July 22, to run a ballot proposal asking voters to raise TRL’s levy to 35 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
November’s ballot measure will be the first time in more than 17 years that the library has sought to raise its levy rate after a 2009 vote was narrowly defeated, according to TRL.
If passed, TRL’s levy would be set at that 35 cent rate for 2027 and 2028, and increase by a maximum of 1% every year beyond that.
The current rate is about 22 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — about half of the statutory maximum rate of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
The average homeowner would pay an estimated $53 more per year if the measure is approved.
As a special purpose taxing district, TRL is funded primarily through local property taxes — 93.7% as of 2026, according to budget documents.
Although property tax revenue is generally reliable, state law limits the levy rate’s growth by 1% per year, which has historically not kept pace with increasing operational costs.
The levy lid lift is TRL’s solution to a $3.8 million budget shortfall that has led to layoffs, the resignation of former Executive Director Cheryl Heywood, and the departure of two senior employees who spoke disparagingly about board members and patrons in messages that later became public.
The TRL Board of Trustees, TRL administrators, staff and patrons generally agree that TRL needs to pass a levy lid lift by the end of 2027 to stabilize TRL’s budget and prevent further layoffs.
“We’re either going to have to make some pretty substantial cuts to live within our revenue, or voters can approve an increase in their tax rate,” TRL Board President Brian Mittge said Wednesday. “That would allow us to continue the services that people have come to expect, and possibly expand them a bit.”
While the Board of Trustees previously floated the idea of waiting up to a year to rebuild community trust before running a levy lid lift, they decided it was in TRL’s best interest to run the proposal sooner due to TRL’s dire financial situation.
“If things are tight right now, and if things are stressful now, I can’t imagine they’re going to get any less stressful over the next year and a half on that, so I think that we’d be doing a disservice to not just the staff, but also the patrons,” said Trustee Hal Blanton.
"We need to allow our communities to make this decision. If we don't put it on the ballot, they don't get to make that decision," Board of Trustees President-Elect Dustin Loup said.
The 35 cent rate for the levy lid lift proposal was one of four options that TRL staff presented to the Board of Trustees for consideration during the board’s regular July 22 meeting.
Other options included:
• Not running a levy lid lift, a scenario that requires TRL to reduce staffing and library hours, reduce collections expenditures and defer facilities maintenance.
• A levy lid lift at a rate of 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, which would prevent future budget cuts, restore library hours and roughly 37 full-time positions, and rebuild TRL’s reserves in two years. The average homeowner would pay $23 more per year.
• A levy lid lift at a rate of 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, which would prevent future budget cuts, restore library hours and roughly 47 full-time positions, and rebuild TRL’s reserves within a year. The average homeowner would pay $73 more per year.
Like the 40 cent rate proposal, the 35 cent rate that the board ultimately approved prevents future budget cuts and builds TRL’s reserves back up to the state-required threshold within a year.
The 40 cent rate ultimately would provide TRL “a bit more breathing room” than the 35 cent rate, Interim Executive Director Andrea Heisel explained.
The board ultimately chose the 35 cent rate because it allows voters to feel the direct impacts of the levy approval sooner while still respecting their wallets.
“We can provide relief sooner to our staff and we can restore hours and services to the communities faster,” said Loup.
While Thurston County Trustee Mary Beth Harrington argued in favor of the 40 cent rate because it puts TRL in the best financial situation, she acknowledged the dire situation TRL would be in if the levy lid lift failed and agreed to the 35 cent rate favored by her seatmates.
“I think 35 cents sends a better message and we can sell it a lot better,” Harrington said.
While Mittge said last month that he would oppose the levy lid lift if TRL didn’t commit to pursuing his controversial list of “desired outcomes,” he said Tuesday that he does now support taking the proposal to voters.
“Voters get to say. They get to decide what the next couple of years look like for TRL,” Mittge said.
TRL administrators and the Board of Trustees will remain committed to keeping TRL running whether or not the proposal fails, Mittge said.
“But it won’t be what anybody wants or a library that you can go to have fun with your kids,” he said.
The Board of Trustees committed Tuesday to working with library advocacy groups, such as the Friends groups and the Patron Coalition for Local Libraries, on engaging the community and promoting the levy lid lift.
The Board of Trustees already has several community members who have agreed to write “for” arguments to run in the local voters’ guides.
Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope has signed up to write the sole “against” argument for the voter’s guide.
Swope was the most vocal supporter of Mittge’s controversial “desired outcomes” document, publicly stating that he will “oppose any levy lid lift and work to protect Lewis County taxpayers” if TRL opposes Mittge’s vision for the library system and “refuses to return to its core mission.”
In 2023, Swope strongly supported a proposed book rating system for TRL which aimed to classify LGBTQ+ material and anatomy books, among other content, as inappropriate for children. The proposal was a topic of intense debate at the county level between July and October 2023.
That book rating system never went into effect as the Lewis County Board of Commissioners lacks the jurisdiction to impose it on TRL.
Ballots will be mailed to registered voters on Oct. 16. Election day is Nov. 3.
Additional information about the levy lid lift measure, including FAQs and resources for voters can be found at TRL.org/Levy.
