Tax Measure to Aid Libraries OKd for Ballot : Ventura: November initiative proposes that each property owner pay at least $35 a year to raise funds to buy books and increase hours.

Much to the delight of book-minded boosters, the Ventura City Council early Tuesday approved placing a tax measure before voters in November that would generate $1 million a year or more for the city’s cash-poor libraries.

The initiative, which needs the support of at least two-thirds of voters in the fall election to pass, would cost each property owner at least $35 a year, enabling the city to buy more books and increase library hours.

But the council stopped short of attaching a specific dollar amount to the measure because the panel was split over whether to ask voters to pay even more for building improvements.

After an hourlong discussion, council members unanimously directed City Atty. Peter D. Bulens to draft several ballot initiatives they can consider when the proposal comes back for final approval July 10.

“I don’t want to deceive the voters that you’re going to pass this now and then come back” with another plan to pay for new or upgraded buildings, Councilman Jack Tingstrom said.

“You’re only going to get this once,” he said.

More than a dozen members of the San Buenaventura Friends of the Library and other supporters stayed past 1 a.m. Tuesday to hear the council’s final decision.

But the only speaker--council candidate Brian Lee Rencher--urged the panel not to solicit more tax money. Instead, Rencher recommended paring the city budget to raise cash for a city-run library system.

“The only way we’re ever going to get control of this situation is to take control,” said Rencher, who launched his third try for the council earlier this month.

“We are taxed sufficiently,” Rencher said. “What we need is more fiscal conservatism.”

But because a regional panel of elected officials last week scuttled a countywide tax, council members said Ventura voters deserve a chance to support their local libraries.

“I was born here and I’m in touch with a lot of the longtime residents,” Councilman Gary Tuttle said. “I think they’re ready to support it.

“There will be some people upset about it, but the community as a majority is certainly there,” he said.

The citywide parcel tax would allow Ventura’s three county library branches to roughly double their operating hours. The Foster, Wright and Ventura Avenue branches are now open only 19 to 27 hours each week.

Dixie Adeniran, director of Ventura County Library Services Agency, told the council earlier this month that without a parcel tax to support the ailing system, many of its 16 branches would be forced to close.

In addition to its base funding of about $6.7 million--the same amount the agency received last year--county budget analysts have set aside an additional $820,000 to supplement libraries.

But Adeniran is worried that the Board of Supervisors may not approve the additional funds because the county faces deficits of $19 million in each of the next two fiscal years.

Adeniran said Monday that she would lead the campaign to pass the Ventura parcel tax.

“Not on county time and not in my official capacity, but as a private citizen I certainly will be involved in the effort to pass this proposal,” she said.

Besides staffing, another major issue facing the struggling library agency is the state of many of the buildings.

Several of the county structures, including the Foster library in downtown Ventura, need substantial renovation. But there is no cohesive proposal to raise money for new buildings.

Councilman Steve Bennett said library supporters should first worry about keeping the branches open.

“The facilities question takes a lot of research, and we don’t have time to divert ourselves into that issue,” Bennett said. “If we want this thing to pass, we have to put all our energy into that.”

But Bennett’s plan to limit the tax to maintenance and operations of the existing Ventura libraries went unsupported.

The measure to be adopted in two weeks would probably provide about $35 a year per property owner to supply and staff the libraries, with any additional revenue earmarked for future building needs.

Otherwise, Councilman Gregory L. Carson said, “There’s an expectation that [the annual $35 levy per property owner] is going to mean a fix and the libraries will be open.”

In another development, council members and the Ventura Unified School District board agreed to form a committee to study ways to create a joint school-city library system.