‘Sticker shock’ slows plans for West Boise library. What it costs — and what’s next

A massive price tag dampened enthusiasm for a new library in West Boise on Tuesday, leaving the Boise City Council looking for ways to support access along the Meridian border without breaking the bank.

Boise Public Library Director Jessica Dorr warned of “sticker shock” before presenting the council with different avenues the city might take over the next 20 years. While every priority cost money, the heftiest figure was attached to a possible new branch in West Boise, which residents have rallied for since at least 2023. Leasing and retrofitting a rental space would cost $23 million-$24 million up front, with another $2.1 million-$2.8 million in annual expenses, Dorr told the council. A new city-owned property would run $31 million-$32 million to build and outfit, with slightly lower annual costs.

“We’re seeing how much it costs to construct new facilities in Boise in 2026,” Dorr said.

Dorr this week floated the idea as part of a long-term planning effort to improve library access — and expand its footprint to catch up to a growing customer base. A consultant report delivered in August found that the five-branch library system is already 20%-30% too small for Boise’s size. The firm advised the city to replace the existing Collister and Ustick branches with buildings that were 25,000 square feet or more, and eventually expand the flagship downtown branch — but didn’t advise building a new library in West Boise.

Dorr’s proposal was preliminary, part of a process that will continue through the summer and into the city’s budgeting process. She outlined prioritizing maintenance and renovations on existing buildings first, then extending hours by bolstering staff, and finally considering new branches or outposts.

That strategy runs against “the most vocal and consistent feedback” Council Member Colin Nash said he has heard around library planning. Some 1,500 people, mostly from West Boise, have signed a petition led by the advocacy group Citizens For A Library asking for a branch somewhere around West Cloverdale. Nash anticipated hearing from them again after Tuesday’s meeting.

Dorr was also aware of the campaign.

“We have heard, very clearly, the desire for a new, standalone, sufficient space in West Boise,” Dorr said. “That is not a short-term project.”

Dorr said she saw adding a new branch as “at least a 20-year project” for the Boise Public Library, which has its own board but depends on the City Council for funding. Her top priority is to keep the current buildings running; the five aging branches require about $100,000 per building per year in ongoing maintenance, she said. The current remodel of Boise’s Capitol Boulevard branch and parking lot — about 60% of the system’s total footprint — is already estimated to cost $7.65 million over the next two years.

“My job is to serve the people of Boise the best I can in the facilities I have today,” she said.

Willits: West Boise ‘shafted’ without library

Council Member Luci Willits represents District 1, which runs between Five Mile Road and the Meridian border south of U.S. Highway 20. Hers is the only district in Boise without a library at which to meet with constituents. She said she goes to another district for town halls, or holds them in the largest city-owned space in her zone: a sewer treatment plant. And, it’s her voters who voice the loudest support for a library branch, according to a map of signatories to Citizens For A Library’s petition.

Willits made it clear that she would not support a concept that didn’t include something for West Boise residents.

“I think this plan ignores public feedback, and specifically ignores public feedback from West Boise,” she said of Dorr’s presentation. “This is a charade.”

Willits called the Public Library’s strategy a “rope-a-dope,” referring to a boxer’s strategy to absorb attacks in order to wear out an opponent over the course of a bout. She pointed to the library’s priority list, which emphasized remodels, staffing and “any other nebulous improvements we can think of” before moving to new facilities.

“There is no plan to put a library in West Boise,” Willits said. “There is no timeline to put a library in West Boise, and it ignores them completely. If this plan is approved without any specifics, they should consider themselves shafted.”

In their own muted ways, her colleagues agreed.

Nash called it “a political question” and focused on “intermittent solutions” to show some progress for residents. Dorr pitched a few of those herself, like an unstaffed building or a kiosk that dispensed books on hold. Each of those options would cost somewhere in the low seven figures to get off the ground, she estimated.

“I have an interest in the public’s feedback if this is a step toward demonstrating a commitment to a certain part of town,” Nash said.

Council Members Jordan Morales and Kathy Corless asked about the possibility of splitting the cost with other library districts. That’s complicated by the local tax bases that fund most Idaho libraries, Dorr said, though splitting a library with a different municipal building could keep costs down.

“I have a hard time thinking about spending $30 million on a new facility, whether its first, then or next,” Corless said, referring to three different time horizons. “Shared cost is what we’re going to need to see this through.”

Morales agreed, adding that it was hard to envision a timeline without better knowing what money is out there.

“We can’t rob Peter to pay Paul,” he said. “We need to maintain what we have.” At the same time, though, he asked library staff to “see what creative, crazy things we can do” for West Boise.

New Boise library would need voter approval

Boise allocated the library system $19.1 million in general funds for fiscal year 2026 — between 5% and 6% of its $331.1 million spending plan.

Council Member Jimmy Hallyburton suggested adding consideration for a West Boise library into the library’s 20-year capital plans, so the city could start to think about paying for it. He also noted one more wrinkle: A 2019 ballot initiative requires a majority of voters to sign off on any library expenditure of $25 million or more, adding another layer of complexity. Voters passed that requirement as a check after then-Mayor David Bieter championed a doomed $103 million downtown library replacement in the late 2010s.

These days, the terms of Prop 1 mean that a full-scale library — built or leased — would likely require voter approval to break ground.

“We all have to approve a budget every single year,” Hallyburton said. “I think it would be a mistake not to include a library in West Boise in a 20-year plan.”

Tuesday’s meeting was advisory. Now, Dorr will take the recommendations to her staff — and her options to the public — prior to summer budget hearings. Those options will likely include something for West Boise.

“That is a good step,” Willits said. “West Boise has been very clear that they want something. If we give them something to react to, they will.”