Many Back Move to Ease Libraries’ Independence

First it was the school district. Then it was the San Fernando Valley’s quest to secede from the rest of the city of Los Angeles.

The new target of the breakup frenzy? Libraries.

Library backers from Agoura Hills and the San Gabriel Valley said Monday they support proposals making it easier for cities to break away from the county’s massive, 88-library system.

Currently, if cities opt out of the county library system, they also forfeit the property taxes used to fund the facilities. Pending legislation would eliminate that penalty.

“Agoura Hills has a contract with the Sheriff’s Department,” Louis Rishoff, a City Council member, testified at a hearing Monday on library services called by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

“We know the cost of every car, every deputy. We know every option. By contrast, we feel we have no control over the library. The hours are dictated to us even though it comes from our property tax money. Our residents are frustrated.”

Rishoff complained that promises of a new library building made in 1978, before Proposition 13 took effect, have proven empty. Agoura Hills is still stuck with the same old building that leaks, floods and has only 27 parking spaces.

“We’ve kept together only because we have an incredible group of librarians,” Rishoff said.

Legislation introduced by Sen. Richard Mountjoy (R-Arcadia) would apply only to libraries in Los Angeles County. He drew up the bill after elected officials in some San Gabriel Valley cities complained that county officials were unwilling to negotiate arrangements that would give them greater control of local libraries.

The bill “will level the playing field and allow for choices we don’t currently have,” Diann Ring, a City Council member from Claremont, said at the hearing.

The critics told Antonovich Monday that they want longer library hours, a voice in budget decisions and relief from what library supporters believe is the tendency of county government that are beset with budget problems to cut libraries first.

Some city officials say that the situation is especially frustrating because many cities in the county levy an annual tax to support their local county libraries, but feel they have no influence over how the money is spent.

Even if the legislation passes, a mass exodus from the county library system is unlikely because few if any cities contribute as much in property taxes as it costs to run a library, officials said.

“The Mountjoy bill, in many respects, is much ado about nothing,” said Fred Gaines, a county library commissioner. “The issue is being responsive.”

Vera Madrano, the president of Friends of the Library in the Santa Clarita Valley, pointed out that one of the advantages of staying in the county system is continued access to materials in the county’s libraries.

County Librarian Sandra Reuben said she has already started developing programs that would give communities greater control of county libraries, including the possibility of signing a contract with each city to ensure that its needs are met.

“I welcome any changes that will improve the way we run,” she said. “It has always been my intent to constantly focus on the customers.”