2026 Budget Gap
$3.8M
Expenditures exceed revenue
Frontline Layoffs
61
38% of frontline staff
Fund Balance Decline
$12.2M
Combined funds, 2022–2026
ED Salary Increase
+37%
$155K→$213K (2023–2026)
Exhibit A
The Scissors: Revenue vs. Expenditures
For years, revenue comfortably exceeded expenditures. In 2023, expenditures crossed above revenue for the first time. The gap widened every year while leadership told the board "we're in the black." All data from TRL General Fund budget documents.
Shaded area = deficit (expenditures exceeding revenue)
Exhibit B
What Leadership Said vs. What Happened
All quotes from public board meeting recordings, verified against the original video.
August 28, 2024
"Timberland does not have a deficit. We cannot have a deficit. We do not want to get to the point of a deficit."
— Cheryl Heywood, Executive Director | General Fund expenditures had exceeded revenue by $948K the prior year
September 25, 2024
"We are in the black because of all of our decisions that we've made since 2013."
— Cheryl Heywood | Said to a public audience including a county commissioner. Combined fund balances had fallen $5.3M from their 2021 peak.
December 18, 2024
"If you do go into the red, then you have to do something pretty quick, like have a reduction in force."
— Cheryl Heywood | Describing the exact scenario she would preside over 15 months later
January 22, 2025
"[This plan] includes forecasts based on attrition with no reduction in force, which means no people will be laid off."
— Cheryl Heywood | Presenting a new staffing plan. Per-employee costs were growing 5–11% annually; revenue, 1–3%.
June 25, 2025
"Main reason why we did this [the staffing reorganization] is to stave off a financial cliff."
— Cheryl Heywood | Despite this warning, she recommended the Collective Bargaining Agreement (5.7% per-employee increase) and executive raises over the following six months.
December 30, 2025
Board approves $3.8M deficit budget + ED 2-year contract with 3% annual raises. Vote: 4-0 (two seats vacant).
March 2026
61 frontline employees laid off. Three branches to unstaffed self-service. No admin positions eliminated. No admin raises rescinded. ED salary: $212,991.
Exhibit C
Fund Balance Collapse
Combined fund balances grew steadily from 2017 to 2020, peaking near $19.3M. The board then lowered its fund balance policy threshold, freeing up $4.9M for building projects. That cushion was spent down on facilities while salaries simultaneously exploded — a double hit that dropped reserves 60% by 2026.
Dashed line = 30% of revenue (policy-required minimum beginning fund balance)
Exhibit D
The Two Drivers
The two forces that drained TRL's reserves, measured against revenue. Salaries are the structural ramp — from 51 cents of every revenue dollar in 2017 to 59 cents in 2026. Building projects were the temporary spike, peaking in 2024 when the Mountain View library build consumed 11% of revenue. Together they explain the fund balance collapse shown in Exhibit C.
Building Fund expenditures
Salaries as percentage of General Fund revenue. Building Fund expenditures are a separate fund, financed by a $5.6M General Fund transfer in 2020. All data from TRL budget documents.
Exhibit E
Fewer People, More Money
TRL's budgeted workforce shrank from 253 FTE in 2017 to 230 in 2025 — a 9% decline. During the same period, total salary expenditures grew 34%, from $11.7M to $15.6M. The entire salary increase was per-person cost growth, not headcount. TRL hired 133 people since 2019, but that was turnover replacement — total positions went down.
Budgeted Positions (left axis)
Total Salary Spending (right axis)
FTE from Position Inventory tables in each TRL Final Budget. Salaries from General Fund Expenditure tables. TRL hired 133 people since 2019, but total positions declined — all replacement hires, not growth.
Exhibit F
The Structural Mismatch
Revenue is structurally capped by the 1% levy lid and cannot keep pace with inflation. Per-employee salary costs tracked Seattle-area inflation through 2023, then pulled sharply ahead via Collective Bargaining Agreement increases, reclassifications, and executive raises. The growing gap between costs and revenue capacity is the crisis leadership never addressed.
All indexed to 2017 = 100. CPI-U annual averages from BLS Series CUURS49DSA0 (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue). Salary per FTE = General Fund salary actuals / budgeted FTE from TRL Position Inventory. FTE declined from 253 (2017) to 229 (2025) — the entire salary increase was per-person cost growth, not headcount.
Exhibit G
The Revenue Option Never Pursued
TRL's levy rate has declined 45% since 2016 and sits at less than half the statutory maximum. The last levy lid lift attempt was in 2009. Heywood's job description requires her to "explore and propose to the Board new potential sources of finance."
Statutory Maximum ($0.50)
TRL's current rate: $0.224 — less than half the $0.50 maximum
Exhibit H
Who Gained, Who Lost
Every executive kept their raise. Every layoff was frontline.
Who Gained (2023→2026)
Executive Director$155,000 → $212,991+$58K
HR Administrator$98,828 → $142,963+$44K
Executive Administrator$89,554 → $133,760+$44K
New: Employee Experience AdvisorCreated Aug 2024$127K
ED 2-year contractApproved Dec 30, 2025+3%/yr
Admin positions eliminated0
Admin raises rescinded0
Who Lost (March 2026)
Frontline employees laid off61
Frontline workforce cut38%
Branches converted to unstaffed3
Books & materials budget cut$1.8M
The three executive raises alone total +$146K/year. The 61 layoffs were announced 11 weeks after the board approved the deficit budget and the ED's 2-year contract — at the same meeting.