County Agrees to Turn Over Library to Mission Viejo : Services: The tentative pact is prompted by systemwide budget woes. The city would build a bigger branch facility.

Facing a $9-million library budget deficit, the county has tentatively agreed to turn over a local branch to city officials who then want to build a new, bigger library.

The breakthrough agreement came Wednesday when the county decided to shift to Mission Viejo nearly $1 million in annual tax revenue from a countywide special assessment district to help the city operate a new library expected to be built within two years.

Mission Viejo taxpayer funds were enough to operate the existing, badly undersized branch library, but aren’t sufficient to pay for a new 25,000-square-foot building envisioned by local residents for the past several years.

The agreement with the county, said Mayor Susan Withrow, “means that the hopes and dreams of our citizens are becoming a reality. We’ll be able to provide our children with the information technology of the 21st Century.”

County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who participated in the meeting with Mission Viejo officials Wednesday, said the agreement establishes “a working partnership. This partnership will provide a great opportunity for citizens at a time when there is great uncertainty over how to fund library services.”

Although the details of the accord are yet to be finalized, the two sides have agreed to:

* Turn over tax revenue for library operation by the year’s end.

* Contract to staff both the current and future library with county personnel.

* Transfer the deed for the current library site--valued at about $1 million--to Mission Viejo. City officials say the library will eventually be sold and the proceeds applied toward constructing the new facility, expected to cost roughly $5 million.

* Guarantee access to the future library for all cardholders in the county system.

“Timing is everything,” Withrow said. “The county’s library budget picture looks very bleak right now. And I think (county officials) see that the city of Mission Viejo is willing to substantially contribute financially to a new library and wants to increase library services.”

The city hopes to build the new and larger library at Marguerite Parkway and La Paz Road within two years.

Two weeks ago, the council announced it was negotiating to trade 7 1/2 acres at Los Altos Street for about four acres next to a plot on Marguerite Parkway previously earmarked for the library.

Details of the land trade are expected to be finalized next month.

City officials anticipate someday building a City Hall on the new library site, turning the intersection into a Civic Center complex.

They have high hopes for a new library.

“We hope to be able to plug into local school houses, computer information services and have adequate CD-ROM stations,” Withrow said. “I hope to be able to equip that library with programs and technologies to meet the needs of every generation in the city.”

Soon, Withrow said the council wants to increase library hours at the existing branch from 35 hours to approximately 55 hours and increase spending for new books.