Cost of Living a Factor in "Thanks but No Thanks"

Bellingham Public Library director turns down job in Boulder, Colo. (Tacoma News Tribune, 2/3/2011)

Excerpt:   In an interview, Kiesner said she was offered the job but turned it down for family and financial reasons.

"We're happy here," she said on Thursday, Feb. 3. "When all factors were weighed, we decided to stay in Bellingham and that feels good."

Kiesner said the cost of living in Boulder is about 13 percent more than Bellingham, so the salary was an issue.

"I think they probably weren't offering enough to entice me," she said.

That salary range was $91,600 to $121,500 a year, according to the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder.

Kiesner makes about $103,000 a year at her library post in Bellingham.

Boulder Public Library is twice the size of Bellingham's and its budget is twice as large, Kiesner said.

For more on this story......

Candidate cites money, family in rejecting Boulder library job offer. (Boulder Daily Camera, 2/3/2011.