County Expected to Create Gift Fund for Libraries

To encourage donations to Ventura County’s cash-starved library system, the Board of Supervisors is expected Tuesday to create a special fund for receiving gifts and grants.

Under the proposal, the county would establish the Ventura County Library Fund and assign its management to the Ventura County Community Foundation, which oversees endowments and other funds for more than 30 local nonprofit agencies.

The fund could eventually provide a source of operating revenue for a joint powers authority, under which a board of representatives from cities would replace county government as administrators of the library system.

The county already has voted to place $100,000 from a pending $450,000 Southern California Gas Co. franchise fee into the proposed fund.

Supervisor Frank Schillo, who is leading the effort to set up the fund, has pledged to write a personal check for $1,000 to get the donations rolling.

“We want to have an easy place for the collection of funds,” Schillo said. “If people want to write a check for the libraries, this will be a high-visibility fund and a focal point for libraries.”

The Ventura County Community Foundation manages accounts totaling more than $10 million for individuals and organizations promoting charitable activities.

Dixie Adeniran, director of the county’s Library Services Agency, said a high-profile foundation is just what the libraries need to drum up dollars.

“We think this is a vehicle that has the potential to raise the donations and . . . the possibility of contributions and estate gifts to support the libraries,” Adeniran said.

Since 1992, state cuts in funding to local governments have caused the library agency’s budget to drop from about $10 million a year to $5.8 million.

Library officials have warned that up to seven of 16 county libraries may have to close at the end of June if new money does not materialize.

Schillo said Thursday that unlike last year, the Board of Supervisors will most likely not be able to provide a nearly $1-million emergency subsidy to the library agency, creating an even gloomier financial picture.

Schillo said the proposed fund would separate donations earmarked for particular library branches or programs from general donations. The remainder would go into a special endowment Schillo hopes will reach $1 million.

Schillo and others have said interest from the endowment might be used to pay for library operations and to help establish the joint powers authority.

City managers from across Ventura County are set to meet April 25 to talk about the joint powers authority proposal, which is largely modeled on a plan that Santa Clara County recently adopted.

Ventura library supporter Cherie Brant said the joint powers plan will need support from city managers to work. City managers from cities such as Camarillo and Ventura have said they were skeptical of the plan because it did not previously involve a revenue source.

“I want to see city managers say this is a good idea and they could set it up or that it doesn’t make sense,” Brant said. “I would like to see a sense of urgency there that doesn’t seem to be there.”

Correspondent Stephanie Brommer contributed to this report.