County Looks to State for Library Funds

Stymied in efforts to win more local funding for libraries, Ventura County leaders are looking to the state to restore some of the money taken from the county library system in leaner years.

If Gov. Pete Wilson can propose a 15% income tax cut in his latest budget plan, local officials say, the state can spare more money for the libraries.

So as state leaders get ready to start hammering out the 1996-97 budget, local officials are making plans to take their case to Sacramento.

Supervisor Frank Schillo intends to meet with leaders from the county’s 10 cities on Thursday and plot a strategy for the trip to the capital.

And Penny Bohannon, the county’s principal analyst of the state budget, said the county has hired a Sacramento lobbyist to study a variety of tasks, including ways to get money back for libraries.

“Four years ago, the state ripped everybody off for a couple of years running--taking money away from libraries and local governments,” said Bill Little, Camarillo’s city manager and an advocate of petitioning the state for library funds. “Now that they have enough money to give a 15% across-the-board tax cut, it seems that before we give the money back to everybody, the Legislature should consider giving back a few million dollars of it to the libraries.”

Gripped by the recession, the state began withholding property tax revenues earmarked for local governments in 1992--a practice that devastated the county’s Library Services Agency.

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The agency’s annual budget has plummeted from $10 million in 1991 to $5.8 million. The agency has lost 56 positions--42% of its staff--since 1991. And its budget for buying books has dropped from $1.1 million to $350,000 in the same period.

Now, the library system is threatening to shut down seven branches in June unless more money can be found.

“I would like to see the full restoration of the money that was transferred away from us to balance the state budget,” said Dixie Adeniran, the library agency’s director. “By the time we got to the end of [the 1993-94] year, the full half was gone.”

But efforts to get the funding back may be in vain. One state official said the government, at least for now, cannot afford to restore the money for the county’s libraries.

“In terms of reverting the property tax transfer that happened, no,” said H.D. Palmer, assistant director of the state’s Department of Finance. “Now that we are starting to be able to come back, we can’t afford to be complacent.”

Palmer said Wilson’s tax cut proposal is an attempt to further stimulate the economy, not a sign that California is safely out of the recession and has money to spare.

He said Wilson’s budget does include $10 million for a pilot program to encourage schools and libraries to work together--perhaps to develop high-tech library facilities. Palmer said the money might be used to buy computers, software and access to the Internet.

The Oak Park and Piru libraries are both located on school campuses, but officials do not know whether they would be eligible for the program, which is in an embryonic stage.

But despite the pilot program proposal, librarians and others said they will continue to pursue money for all libraries.

Wilson’s $61.5-billion spending plan suggests a onetime 5.5% funding boost for schools. State Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo) said libraries should be a priority.

“I will be supporting the efforts of the library proponents to restore funding to local governments that was raided two budgets ago,” he said Monday.

If the county libraries do not find other sources of financial support, seven branches--the Avenue, Soliz-El Rio, Meiners Oaks, Oak Park, Oak View, Piru and Saticoy--may shut down in June.

What’s more, Ventura County’s chief administrative officer has told the agency not to count on the $984,000 General Fund subsidy it received last year.

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Although some library supporters think that county officials may be pursuing state money to avoid straining the county’s own budget, they support the lobbying efforts by local politicians.

“It would be to everybody’s benefit here to have the state return the money,” said Cherie Brandt, campaign coordinator for an unsuccessful November ballot measure in Ventura that proposed to levy $35 annually per homeowner to raise library funds. “It’s worth a shot, regardless of their motivation.

“We may be able to get some funding back from the state but, in order to bring services up to what we deserve, we are going to have to put some money into it here on a county level.”

Several cities have placed parcel tax measures designed to bail out libraries on the March ballot, despite the failure of similar November measures in Ventura, Ojai and the unincorporated areas between the two cities.

Schillo has proposed creating a Library Federation that would essentially turn control of libraries over to cities, despite criticism that the plan would require a large infusion of cash to succeed.

In Ventura, representatives of a special advisory panel Monday night urged the City Council to establish a special benefits assessment district, which could raise $1.2 million for libraries by levying a $35 annual tax on every homeowner.

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Nearly a dozen Ventura residents urged the council to find a long-term solution to the library funding crisis.

“It is now time for you council members to become courageous,” said Jean Marshall, a 35-year resident. “Keep our libraries open fully.”

Nine-year-old Robyn Jones, a regular at the Avenue library in Ventura, pleaded with council members to keep her branch open. The small branch will be reduced to three hours a week starting April 1.

“I just wanted to say, please keep the library open because it helps lots of kids with their schoolwork,” she said.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.