WESTLAKE VILLAGE : Library Secession Bill Passed by Lawmakers
Despite protests from Los Angeles County library officials, a bill allowing Westlake Village to take its money and leave the nation’s largest library system has passed the Legislature.
If signed by Gov. Pete Wilson, the bill would allow the upscale bedroom community to keep the $340,000 in property taxes it pays the county annually for library services, which city officials say are inadequate. The city could use that money to finance its own library, long an item on the municipal wish list.
But county library officials predicted that the bill could spell disaster for the county’s system, which finances libraries in poorer areas with revenues from more affluent communities such as Westlake Village.
“This is one more sort of thing that divides the rich and the poor in Los Angeles,” library system spokesman Phil Fleming said.
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