Public Services Department Director Tanya Williams came to the Collier County Public Library Advisory Board workshop Friday to educate it on formulating its requests for county commissioners’ upcoming 2026 budget deliberations.

She wasn’t the only one bringing enlightenment. A group of four residents joined with a letter, a petition and comments, representing nearly 1,000 people from the neighborhoods around the Vanderbilt Beach Library, 788 Vanderbilt Beach Road, in Naples, asking for assurances it will continue to operate as it has since 1981.

No one has said the library will be closed. But Collier County, with advice from efficiency consultants Resource X/Tyler Tech, has emphasized cutting costs and monetizing assets while it pursues its priorities in the county’s 2025 strategic plan. That makes library patrons nervous for several reasons. Marsha Oenick, who organized the petition and procured a slot for it on change.org, pointed them out before the meeting:

• The Vanderbilt Beach building lies within the orbit of the Headquarters Library, 3.3 miles away at 2385 Orange Blossom Drive. Built in 2002, it has the designation of a regional library.

Residents of Pelican Bay and Naples Park worry that they will be shifted toward the regional library and their own closed as a costsaving measure.

• The building has neighbors who would be happy to have its property: the Pelican Bay Foundation, which could expand the Pelican Bay Community Center to it across the lake perimeter, and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office’s District 1 next door, which could expand its quarters.

Additionally, during the 2024 budget process, Collier County commissioners debated the idea of opening smaller libraries only four days each week. Vanderbilt Beach was among them.

Precedents breed jitters

This was not the first time the library has faced enforced shrinkage. During the last recession, North Naples residents raised funds to stave off Friday-Saturday closures at the library through 2009 and 2010. The continuing recession did shut its doors on Fridays for nearly three years after that, however, until libraries were funded to expand hours again in August 2014.

Oenick said their group knew of no concrete plans to shutter the Vanderbilt Beach Library.

“We’re starting early. We want to make sure everyone is aware of the support behind this library,” she said.

Her group brought along comments from petition signers that emphasized its neighborhood character, easily reached on foot or bicycle, and its 41-year history that is bringing second- and third-generation residents into it.

Williams and Library Division Director Catherine Cowser encouraged the group to make its wishes known. Both emphasized during the workshop that they want to keep Collier County’s libraries open.

Cowser said she had approached the county administration on Thursday to get assurance there will be a fair hearing on any cost-cutting initiatives. She received it, she said: “Nothing’s done without board approval — all five commissioners. Nothing’s done without public input.”

County commissioners will hold prioritybased budget workshops for FY 2026 on June 19 and, if necessary, June 20.

Financial needs run deep

In the 2.5-hour workshop, Williams explained the rationale behind commissioners’ insistence on cost-cutting, and none of it would alleviate the library supporters’ fears.

“A lot of the facilities you see in Collier County — this building that you’re in — were built just before the housing market bubble burst,” Williams told the group, which was meeting in the Headquarters Library. “We, as a county, had committed to latch onto that bubble and expand, expand, expand and expand.

“Well, the bubble burst. And we were kneedeep in projects. And then we had no taxable value,” she said.

“Even to today, we have not met the prebubble taxable values. We have had to temper our annual repair, maintenance and support of all of these facilities that we’ve acquired and brought online in 2006, 2007 and a couple of years after that. So we are behind in maintaining those facilities.”

At the same time, the county has suffered at least tangential wrath from four hurricanes in the last seven years. Two of those, Irma and Ian, did major damage, she said.

“Why do people come to Collier County? We live in paradise. They come for our beaches. They come for our amenities. We have to maintain those. We’ve had two devastating hurricanes. We are still repairing certain beach access points from Irma,” she said. “We’re still restoring areas that we depend on to bring the tourists in.”

Library board advisory members, including the three present at the workshop March 28, have been tasked with reading the county’s 341page strategic plan, which includes prioritybased budgeting and a return-on-investment report. The board also will be required to understand the budget policy set by the Collier County Commissioners.

“The primary focus of your current sitting board of county commissioners is health, safety, welfare,” Williams said.

“So you’re going to see affordable workforce housing. You’re going to see heavy public health and safety — transportation, your infrastructure. Nobody likes the traffic in town. Everybody says there’s problems with the traffic, and it’s going to get worse because of the work going on,” she warned.

There are some 170 projects in process or planned for the coming year. Water resources, stormwater, utility partnerships and the continuing remediation of damage from hurricanes are in the mix of Collier County’s high priorities defined for its Strategic Initiatives Division.

“That’s not to say that every other project that’s occurring is not a priority,” Williams said. “It’s just that these are the ones that the board wants quarterly updates on.” The reports are to ensure the priority projects are “on time, on target and pressing forward.”

No breathing just yet

Nicole Rolando, who brought a letter of support for the library, said afterward this was her first request of a governmental body.

“I’m somewhat encouraged because the library personnel seem to be understanding,” she said. “They don’t seem to want to close the doors.” But it had energized her, she said, to write to an area homeowner association asking if it would alert its residents.

Jennifer Ashford, who represents the library’s district, District 2, on the board, said no one had an idea yet what their budget deliberations would yield. But she told residents to stay involved: “Pay attention to what your government is doing and what the library is doing,” she said.

Rebeca Seitz, who represents District 1 on the advisory board, worried aloud during the meeting about setting priorities on the basis of dollar-value measurables alone. She offered a written statement after the meeting that read in part: “It’s my staunch hope that, while the commissioners benefit from the fresh expertise afforded by the outside entity Tyler Tech in guiding Collier County spending, they do so through the lens of love of Naples and greater Collier County. We are the incredible community that exists today because of those who came before us who faithfully adhered to that motivation.”