Voters to Rule on Library Funding

Ventura County supervisors have agreed to let residents who live in Piru and the unincorporated areas around Ojai and Camarillo decide whether they want to pay higher property taxes to help fund library service.

Supervisors voted Tuesday to place measures on the March 26 ballot that would raise annual homeowners taxes by $35 to help pay for library services in Piru and a portion of the Ojai Valley’s unincorporated area. The county leaders also decided to put a $25 parcel tax measure before Camarillo-area voters living in the Mesa Union, Somis Union and Pleasant Valley school districts.

Similar parcel tax measures in Ventura, Ojai and the unincorporated areas between the two cities failed to receive the required approval of two-thirds of the voters in the November election.

But library supporters say the three new measures stand a better chance because they do not include a cost-of-living adjustment. The measures would require voters to reaffirm support for the supplemental tax in five years.

The cities of Camarillo and Ojai have voted to place parcel tax measures for libraries on the March ballot. Many libraries across the county face skeletal hours or closure because of state funding cuts to the county’s Library Services Agency.

The neighborhood library in Piru may close in July if library supporters cannot come up with additional funding, said county library officials. Neighborhood libraries in Oak View and Meiners Oaks, both near Ojai, could shut their doors as soon as March 31.