Garfield County is moving to a new web address around March 1. Find us then at garfieldcountyco.gov. Domains like this are more trusted, because only official governments can use them.
Library District Executive Director Jamie LaRue, library district Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hettler, and library board President Adrian Rippy-Sheehy present the district's budget before the Board of County Commissioners in Glenwood Springs, CO.

BOCC accepts 2025 library district budget

Garfield County Libraries remodeling buildings in Parachute and New Castle

PRESS RELEASE
January 22, 2025

Garfield County has reviewed and accepted the Garfield County Public Library District 2025 adopted budget, which includes $12.8 million in revenues and $12.1 million in expenditures for the year. An estimated excess of revenues of roughly $765,000 will bolster the district’s fund balance to approximately $25.1 million in 2025.

District revenues come from one quarter of Garfield County’s one cent sales tax and a 2.5 mill levy property tax (two different mills), all approved by voters. Library district officers presented the budget to the Board of County Commissioners, which reviews the budget annually.

Library District Executive Director Jamie LaRue told the board that the library had budgeted for a decline in revenues in 2025, due to a forecasted dip in oil and gas property taxes. Commissioner Tom Jankovsky questioned the reduction in sales tax revenues of $700,000 and interest income of $800,000, noting that sales tax should be equal with last year and interest rate revenues have only reduced 1 percent.

“We have a very solid collection of reserves,” he said. “We’re still trying to use our savings to even out the roller coaster of funding. Very conservative spending has been our motto, and we’re trying to avoid crisis by anticipating change.”

In 2024, the Garfield County libraries checked out more than 250,000 physical items to customers, and slightly more than that in digital offerings.

“For a community of 65,000 people, that’s a lot of reading,” LaRue said.

On the horizon are building “refreshes” in Parachute and New Castle, followed by renovations in Silt and Rifle.

“We’ve been socking money away into reserves knowing when it came time to prepare for these things, we’d have cash on hand,” LaRue said.

Kevin Hettler, library district chief financial officer, said the plan is to remodel the library buildings down to the foundations.

“In 2025, we’re budgeting for two facilities to finish this year. That’s the reason for the projected increase in spending, we’re getting those two projects off the ground this month,” he told the board. “We’re looking at spending about $750,000 per building on average, which includes stripping it down to the walls. We’re replacing all the equipment and all the carpeting, repainting, removing some walls to (make the layout more user friendly), and fixing some of the staff areas that are inadequate.”

“What’s a comfortable fund balance, once the remodels are done, from the library’s standpoint?” asked Commissioner Perry Will. “What’s adequate, so it doesn’t appear that we’re hoarding the taxpayers’ money?”

Hettler said that library policy is for reserves to be 100 percent of the prior year’s expenditures, based on recommendation from the district’s auditor due to 60 percent of our revenue coming from the energy sector. He also noted that the debt services on the library facilities will be paid off in 2027, and that will be reflected in future budgets and reserves.

“That goes away as does the mill levy that paid for them,” LaRue added.

“That is the 1.0 mill levy voters approved on in 2006,” Hettler said. “We have two mills, the 1.0 mill that sunsets in 2026, and the voters approved a 1.5 mill in 2019. That remains in place.”

Jankovsky asked LaRue and Hettler about a budgeted 20 percent increase in the cost of salaries and benefits at the library district. The library included a three percent cost of living raise for staff in its 2025 budget, among other increases.

“I believe very strongly that as difficult as it is to recruit people to Garfield County because of the cost of housing, it leads us to a point where we take the people who are here and invest in them and try and make them grow and lift them up,” LaRue said. “I’m hopeful that this is the year that we sketched out a comprehensive way for people to find career paths and recruit them into librarianship, get them into library schools, and help them pay for that.”

He noted that the district won awards in 2024 for its Spanish services team, its partnership with Discovery Café in Rifle, and the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Rising Star Award for one of its youth services coordinators.

“Adrian Rippy-Sheehy, who is our board president, is the winner of the Colorado Association of Libraries Outstanding Trustee of the year for 2024,” he said. “These awards are not only to highlight our achievements, but I also think it helps us to recruit people. When we get the name out there, we attract talented folks to the library.”

LaRue added that the library district is teaming up on projects with local groups including the Colorado River Valley Economic Development Partnership (completed a database for more than 1,000 small businesses between New Castle and Parachute); Clean Energy Economy for the Region (CLEER) on a geothermal energy project; Raising a Reader; and the Glenwood Springs Historical Society on preserving historical “treasures” in Garfield County, among others.

“With the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, we’re giving any child between the ages of 0 to 5 that wants one, a free book,” he said of the Raising a Reader partnership. “We’ll send one every month and the library is paying for that.”

“We have received your budget,” Jankovsky said. “Good luck as you move forward in 2025.”