CACHE COUNTY – One way or another, the Cache County government seems likely to wash its hands of the County Library in the next year.
At a meeting of the newly appointed Library Board of Directors on Mar. 4, County Executive George Daines proposed a tentative plan that would extend the library’s life span through November of 2026 to give the residents of Providence, Millville and River Heights an opportunity to vote on whether to take financial responsibility for the library’s operations.
Daines was not, however, proposing to increase the current county budget allocation for the Cache County Library as part of that plan.
The county executive explained that the county budget for 2026 allocated $134,600 to keep the library’s doors open through June 30, of which about $27,000 was spent during January and February.
Daines offered to work out a new spending plan that would stretch the remaining slightly more than $107,000 through November. The intent of that belt-tightening effort would be to give the mayors of Providence, Millville and River Heights the chance to put the question of support for the library on their city ballots in November.
At the meeting of the Cache County Council on Feb. 10, Daines recommended appointments replacing five previous voting members of the County Library Board.
In addition to adding Laura Smith and Jesse Elman, the city librarians in Richmond and Mendon to that panel, Daines also named Mayors Kathleen Alder of Providence, Blake Wright of River Heights and David Hair of Millville.
After the library board meeting on Mar. 4, those mayors are expected to take Daines’ plan back to their respective city councils for consideration.
If the residents of any of those three municipalities vote in favor of taking on the financial responsibility of supporting the library, Daines proposes to turn the library’s total assets over to them.
The fate of the Cache County Library located at 15 North Main Street in Providence has been up in the air since autumn of 2025.
Among the budget cuts proposed by Cache County Executive George Daines for 2026 last October was defunding the library, which would result in budget saving for the county of $250,000 a year.
After a public outcry, the members of the Cache County Council approved a compromise in December that funded the library’s operations for the first six-months of 2026 while alternative funding sources were considered.
Now Daines’ plan to transfer the library to joint municipal control seems to be the only viable option for the facility’s continuation.
During a brief pubic comment period at the Mar. 4 meeting, library activist Hannah Wertz Mortensen offered a counter-proposal to Daines’ plan that would see the library funded by private donations and managed by a non-profit “Friends of the Cache County Library” group.
Other supporters voiced their opinions that the Cache County Library should be fully funded and remain a county asset for the benefit of all local residents.