For the Vanishing Breed – the Library User

By in Tri-Cities, WA with 0 Comments

I didn’t know whether to post this on the Richland blog or the West Richland blog, because it affects residents of both areas.

If you want to use the Richland city library, and you don’t live in Richland, you need to pay a non-resident fee of $30.00. I remember when you used to be able to use the Richland city library for free, no matter where you lived. I think it was in the late 90’s that they began to assess a charge for non-residents, as they were very busy and the city couldn’t afford to increase the staff to the necessary levels to handle the patrons. The irony was that soon after they instituted the fee, patronage declined to such levels that the increase in income wasn’t necessary. It soon leveled off, though, and now Richland is building a new library to better serve its users.

I went to the Richland city library the other day (in its temporary digs on Lee) with my kids to pick out some books. I figured it had been about a year or longer since I’d last paid my non-resident fee, so I was all geared up to pay again. I whipped out the debit card and the librarian sadly told me they didn’t accept those. Then, she had a brilliant idea -“Do your kids go to Richland schools?” she asked me. The schools in West Richland, where we live, are in the Richland school district. So, my kids were able to become card holders at the Richland city library FREE OF CHARGE because they’re in Richland schools. How cool is that? Sure, the cost would have been $30 which wouldn’t have broken me, but I’ll take that deal!

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About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

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