It’s Time to Back Our Library

Our library is at a crossroads.

Like so many things in Highland, it’s been doing an enormous amount of heavy lifting for the community—with barely enough support to keep going. Our now-former director, Donna Cardon, and her staff have worked near-miracles on behalf of this city. But despite their efforts, the library is facing an existential crisis.

Either we fund the library at a sustainable level, or we prepare for deep cuts:

• Programs like story time, book clubs, and youth workshops eliminated
• Inability to fund digital resources like Libby
• Fewer learning kits, audiobooks, and STEM resources
• Loss of public computers and meeting space access
• Closed Saturdays
• Weekday hours reduced to mid-afternoon closing
• Collections left to dwindle
• Staff reductions

The last time Highland raised the dedicated library tax rate was in 2007.

Since then, inflation, population, and demand have all surged. But the rate hasn’t moved—and in fact, it’s dropped. Adjusted for inflation, the amount Highland residents contribute to the library has actually gone down.

Yes—down.

Despite program attendance growing 369%, despite 62% of residents holding active library cards, and despite over 9,000 residents attending programs last year, Highland’s per-resident funding remains half of what cities like Provo, Brigham City, Murray, and Logan invest.

And the result?

• Our dedicated tax rate is the second-lowest in Utah.
• The library has just one full-time employee.
• A third of the children’s picture books and juvenile nonfiction are nearly 25 years old.
• The library is now relying on reserves and a one-time general fund transfer just to stay open.

I’ve served nearly four years on the Library Board. I’ve watched this shortfall grow. We’ve raised the warning flag with the City Council numerous times over the years but have been met with skepticism and reluctance to address the issue head on. We’ve uncovered missed funding allocations, fought to correct them, and still—we’re near the breaking point. This isn’t a budgeting oversight. It’s a slow-motion failure to act.

It’s not just unsustainable. It’s unjustified.

To their credit, the current City Council and Mayor are finally taking the problem seriously. The city staff held a joint work session on July 29th and invited those of us on the Library Board to discuss the issue with the City Council. Aside from it being a productive meeting in the end, I felt like far too much of it was us, as a Library Board, justifying the actual existence of the Highland City Library.

Here is a link to view that meeting (which is also embedded below).

Leaving the meeting I felt like everyone was more or less on the same page, but there were definitely moments in the discussion that were troubling to me. 

But one thing that was evident from that meeting was that years of ignoring the library’s funding problems has finally left us out of time. The Library Board and the city have almost exhausted every possible way to make up for this shortfall. I have one or two vetted and promising ideas that I’ve discussed with city staff and city council members, and I plan to put those into action, but it’s still not enough to compensate for 18 years of stagnation.

I’m just going to be honest, there is only one viable long-term solution—a modest increase to the library’s dedicated tax rate.

Last year, Provo faced a similar reckoning. After 19 years of a frozen tax levy for their library, they were facing a budgeting shortfall and the possibility of massive cuts to services. To address the problem and explore a solution, they held a Truth-in-Taxation hearing. The result? They received a tsunami of support for both the library and the tax increase. Provo Councilmember George Handley said:

“[I received] more emails than I’ve ever received… and [I’ve] never seen such disproportionate vote in favor.”

So I want to be clear.

If elected, I’ll follow the same process:

• Call for a Truth-in-Taxation hearing
• Collect resident feedback
• Act—only if the community supports it

Because here’s the truth, and this is how I’ll always operate: this decision will come down to what Highland wants. Residents have stepped up in the past to support investing tax dollars into the library, and I’m confident we’re all still willing to support the library.

If residents say this library matters—if they’re willing to pay just a few dollars more each month to protect it—I’ll fight for that. Not just to save the library, but allow it to thrive and expand its reach and services. It has been a catalyst for Highland’s growth — it’s time for Highland to return the favor.

Some candidates and council members will tell you the library isn’t worth the sin of raising taxes. But starving the library of funds and calling it “fiscal stewardship”—that’s the real sin.

It’s not being careful with money—it’s backing away from responsibility and pretending it’s principle.

To withhold the modest funding our library needs—while demand grows and its impact multiplies—is not prudence. It’s abdication. 

We don’t get to shrug this off as tough budgeting. If we let the library unravel, it won’t be because we couldn’t afford it, it’ll be because we looked the other way.

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