City Wants Library Flexibility, Funds

The City Council gave the county some advice this week: Get out of the library business.

City officials are advocating that the county dissolve its library system and allow communities to spend special library taxes as they see fit. The council is considering a resolution that would support such action and outline the city’s library goals.

That would allow Laguna Hills, the only Orange County city without its own library branch, the flexibility to meet community needs, officials said.

A recently released report that deals with organizing and financing the county system “will most likely be a catalyst for change to the library system,” Assistant City Manager Don White said.

The council accepted White’s recommendation to call for dissolving county library services. White estimated that Laguna Hills residents pay a total of $500,000 annually in library taxes but must use facilities in Lake Forest and Mission Viejo.

City officials estimate that building a library in Laguna Hills would cost about $5.7 million and that operating it would cost about $1 million a year.

In a city survey last year, only 36% of residents said they would be willing to pay more taxes for a city library. As a result, that is only one option being considered. Others are contracting for library services with a neighboring city or joining a regional library group.