Camarillo to Consider Library Tax Measure : Government: Barely a week after west county voters rejected such a levy, the council will discuss whether to place a citywide initiative on the March ballot.

Eight days after west Ventura County voters refused to pay more for schools and libraries, the Camarillo City Council will consider asking property owners to support a new tax hike to help bail out the local library.

The five-member council today is expected to place a library-tax initiative on the March ballot.

But because similar measures failed last week in Ventura and Ojai, the Friends of the Camarillo Library instead plan to request a sales-tax increase or yearly general fund contributions to prop up the struggling library system. “The climate is not good,” said Betty Sullivan, president of the community group. “That’s why I support a small sales-tax increase.”

Mayor Mike Morgan said that despite the four-time rejection by Camarillo voters of a multimillion-dollar school bond, voters should seriously consider approving a library tax. The proposal would impose a $30 annual levy on property owners.

“It’s not even close to what the schools were asking for,” Morgan said. “We’ll at least let the voters look at it.”

Similar library measures were defeated eight days ago in the Ventura and Ojai areas, where property owners were asked to pay $35 a year per parcel to support the ailing library system.

Each of three library-tax proposals on the Nov. 7 ballot received majority approval. But because measures calling for new taxes require a two-thirds majority to pass, the initiatives failed to qualify.

Morgan declined to say whether he is among a growing number of officials calling for the two-thirds rule to be overturned by the state Legislature. But he said the library measure may squeeze by in his city, where almost 65% of voters approved the $55-million school bond.

“Our libraries do need to stay open and it gets hard when the hours are not consistent,” Morgan said.

Councilman David M. Smith said he supports paying $30 a year to buy more books and keep the library open 55 hours a week.

“There is a need to supplement the funds for operating the library,” he said. “It’s our responsibility as local officials to try to communicate that need to the voters.”

Smith, however, said he would not support raising taxes to help the library without voter approval. “The voters have a mind of their own,” he said.

Sullivan said that if council members do not endorse a sales-tax increase or general fund contributions, she would ask the panel to lower the tax proposal to $25 a year, with a five-year cap.

“If the only reasonable alternative is to go ahead with the parcel tax measure, then to make it more palatable to the public we would propose a five-year limit that could only be renewed by a vote of the people,” she said.

“We also would want to do away with any cost-of-living adjustments,” Sullivan added.

County library officials said the $30-a-year assessment would generate $573,000 within Camarillo and another $168,000 from outside city limits that are served by the facility.

“The tax would give us stable funding,” said Sandi Kaplan, supervising librarian at the Camarillo branch, which is open 47 hours a week. “We would know that we could be open 55 hours a week and six days a week.”

Without two-thirds voter approval of the tax measure, “probably our hours will be cut,” Kaplan added. “But we’re not sure what the county Board of Supervisors might do.”

Faced with massive budget deficits each of the past four years, county supervisors have pared many programs. The panel already faces a $19-million deficit for next year.

The 1995-96 budget for the Camarillo library is more than $1.3 million, including nearly $50,000 in special funds approved by the Camarillo City Council earlier this year.