MISSION VIEJO : Council OKs Building, Operation of Library

The City Council on Monday officially shouldered the responsibility for building and running a new library.

The council agreed to accept about $950,000 in annual library taxes from the county, along with ownership of the current branch library building valued at about $1 million.

The only obstacle between the city and a new library is approval of the tax transfer by the County Board of Supervisors at its meeting next Tuesday.

If the supervisors ratify the agreement, the city would take over the branch library next June. County librarians would continue working at the library under contract with the city.

The key component of the agreement is the tax transfer. A portion of Mission Viejo property taxes goes into a special district tax fund that has been used by the county to run the library system.

The city would use the tax revenue to operate its planned 25,000-square-foot, $6-million library, expected to open in 1997.

This isn’t the first time that library supporters have seen the two sides this close to an agreement. Last year, the tax transfer was on the supervisors’ agenda when the county declared bankruptcy.