Camarillo Leaders Expected to Consider Cash Infusion for Library : City Council: Money would extend facility’s hours of operation. Panel also will consider proposal to put a tax measure for such services on ballot.

In an effort to boost dwindling library services, the Camarillo City Council is expected to vote tonight on whether to pump $49,400 into the city’s library to expand hours through June.

The council will also consider a proposal to place a library tax on the March primary ballot.

“I think a library is central to a community’s intellectual life,” said City Councilman David Smith, who backs both measures. “It provides a study area and research facility for adults and business people and a place for kids to do homework, research and read.”

The Ventura County Library Services Agency has seen its $10-million budget shrink to about $6 million over the past four years, forcing cuts in hours at the department’s 16 branches.

The Camarillo branch, at 3100 Ponderosa Drive, is currently open 40 hours a week.

If the City Council approves the $49,400 cash infusion, the library would be open an additional 11 hours weekly through June.

In addition, the council has until November to decide whether a library tax should be put to the city’s residents for a vote.

Residents of Ventura, Ojai and unincorporated county areas around those cities will vote in November on a $35 parcel tax dedicated to library services, but Camarillo officials expect a library parcel tax in their city to be less than $35 a parcel.

Smith and Councilwoman Charlotte Craven are on the council’s ad hoc library committee that is suggesting the cash infusion and ballot measure.

But the ballot measure “is not for the library committee to decide,” Craven said. “We need to find out what the people want.”

The onetime cash infusion is not enough to get the Camarillo branch back on its feet permanently, officials said.

“This would be a Band-Aid, stopgap, first-aid measure for the library,” said Dixie Adeniran, Ventura County Library Services Agency director. “We’ve been getting little dribs and drabs of money from different entities, government and nonprofit. Each one of them gives a modest amount of money to add a modest number of hours for a limited amount of time.

“The real problem is the problem of finding adequate, stable funding,” she said. “Several years ago, the Camarillo library was open 61 hours per week. Now the county funds it for 36 hours, and nonprofit groups are funding another four hours.”

The Newcomers’ Club, Soroptimists Club and Meadowlark Service League have donated to the city’s library to extend hours, Adeniran said.