Countywide : Bid to Recoup Library Funding Gets Support

Officials in Los Alamitos this week pledged to support the Garden Grove City Council in its efforts to retrieve more than $16 million in library funding they say the state has withheld since 1991.

Garden Grove officials said the county libraries are entitled to a portion of the property taxes the state returned to cities, counties and special districts through the Special Districts Augmentation Fund from 1978 until 1991. In 1991, the Legislature suspended those payments and diverted those funds to local school districts to make up for a recessionary revenue shortfall.

Largely because of the state cutback, the budget of the county library system dropped from $27 million in 1991 to $20 million, leading to reductions in library hours and services.

Since the county’s bankruptcy in December 1994, the libraries have lost more funding, making the return of state money even more urgent, said George Skelton, a senior administrator in Garden Grove.

Garden Grove’s resolution to recover $16.1 million was passed by the City Council on Feb. 27. It is modeled on a similar action taken by the city of Temecula in Riverside County.