OJAI : Drive for Library Funds Still Alive

With Ojai’s library-tax measure failing by just 60 votes, city officials aren’t about to give up the ghost.

They are considering writing up another ballot proposal in time for the March elections, and several private citizens are forming a nonprofit charity to help keep the library open.

“[We] want to save our library, that’s the thing,” Ojai Mayor Nina V. Shelley said.

At next week’s meeting, the City Council will consider another measure, Shelley said.

The measure, which would have helped fund the cash-starved library with an annual $35 parcel tax, failed to win the required 66.7% approval by about two percentage points. City leaders fear that Ojai’s county-run library can’t depend on state and county funding in the future because of a tight fiscal situation.

Shelley said the council may consider altering the measure to make it more attractive to more voters. Among the considerations are lowering the tax or not tying it to yearly increases, Shelley said.

Ojai resident Greg Herring recently formed a foundation to channel private contributions to Ojai’s library. “We want to supplement, not replace, state and county funding,” said Herring, a supporter of last week’s failed measure.

Herring’s foundation, which is seeking volunteers and donations, will hold its first board meeting Nov. 21.