Logan • While many voters headed to the polls Tuesday, dozens of residents crowded into the Cache County Council chambers for a public hearing on a proposal to defund the area’s only countywide library — a move officials say would help chip away at a $7 million budget shortfall.
The meeting marked the first opportunity for residents to weigh in since County Executive George Daines introduced the defunding recommendation during budget discussions in October.
If the council embraces the plan, the library in Providence would shutter by year’s end, leaving some 30,000 county residents without library access. Defunding the library would save the county about $230,000 a year.
The council chambers filled quickly, with people lining the walls and spilling into the hallway, where families, students and retirees from across Cache Valley watched the meeting on phones after seats ran out.
Many urged the council to keep the library’s funding intact, calling it a vital community resource, even for those who live in cities with their own libraries.
Royce Wilkerson, a Providence resident who attended with his two young children, said he “happily” pays his taxes to support the Cache County Library — and would pay more if it meant keeping it open.
He likened the tax burden of keeping the library afloat — less than $5 a year — to “about half a cheeseburger.”
“That’s not a big deal,” Wilkerson said. “We’re talking about very little money to save a library that’s contributing to 20% of our county. This is something that you just need to be reasonable on. There’s a lot of ways to save money. This is not one of them.”
Some residents pay twice, county exec says
There are eight municipal libraries in the county, Daines said, and residents in those cities end up paying twice for services — once for their city’s library and again for the county library.
However, residents of communities without their own libraries — such as Providence, River Heights, Millville and Hyde Park — only pay the county library tax.
“You can see the imbalance,” Daines told the council. “In addition, we’re asking those individuals who are using municipal libraries to pay $200,000 for the county library. That’s where we get the double taxation problem.”
(Samantha Moilanen | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cache County Executive George Daines explains his recommendation to defund the Cache County Library during a County Council meeting on Nov. 4, 2025.
Providence and other cities without their own libraries should make the same investment in services that other municipalities have, Daines argues.
Council member Jeanell Sealy, a Providence resident who chairs the county library board, told The Salt Lake Tribune that her city — population of about 9,000 — can’t afford to fund its own library right now. If the council cuts library funding in the upcoming budget, she said, there won’t be time to figure out another way to pay for it before the facility closes.
She said two-thirds of the county’s municipalities don’t have libraries. For Providence to offer the same level of service the county library provides, she said it would mean a roughly 23% tax increase for residents.
Sealy said residents in her city are free to reach out to elected officials to advocate for a city-funded library, but “I think they also need to realize we have a much smaller budget than the county does.”
Residents at Tuesday’s hearing described the county’s library system as “fractured,” noting that without the free county library, some people would have no access to library services.
(Samantha Moilanen | The Salt Lake Tribune) Dozens pack the Cache County Council chambers on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, to oppose a proposal to defund the county library.
Sealy said many kids depend on the library for access to books that can take months to get through the school system.
“It is because of the county’s lack of willingness to step up to provide library systems,” Sealy said, “[that] other cities have stepped up to do those things because the services are inadequate.”
Staffing cuts also coming
Daines said that when he took office, he was tasked with getting “control of the county budget,” which has been running a deficit for the past couple of years. At the council’s Oct. 28 meeting, the panel accepted — but did not approve — the tentative 2026 budget he submitted.
The proposed budget totals $65.5 million, slightly less than the current $70 million budget.
As part of his effort to close the budget gap, Daines said he has also recommended reducing the county workforce.
“We have some really hard decisions to make, and like our executive said, there are people that work for the county that are losing their jobs because of budget extremes, and so there’s some really heavy things that we have to decide,” said council Chair Sandi Goodlander. “Anything we have to decide is not because we don’t appreciate libraries.”
The council will revisit the proposal before making a decision on the 2026 budget.
Until then, residents say they’ll keep showing up, hoping their voices can keep the county library’s doors open.
“If the Cache County Library must close, then please only do so after you have ensured library access to all people in the county,” said Melanie Domenech Rodríguez, a River Heights resident and professor at Utah State University. “Moving costs to individuals is incongruent to the basic valuing of fundamental human rights.”