Delay to Be Sought on Library Report

Councilman Greg Smith will ask the county chapter of the League of California Cities tonight to delay action on a report that recommends against allowing cities to withdraw from the county library system.

“A vote on endorsing this report and sending it to the supervisors for action is premature,” Smith said. “It would impose the condition of forcing Irvine to stay in the county system.”

Council members are considering pulling the city’s two libraries out of the 27-branch county system.

The City Council has commissioned a feasibility study, which includes the option of creating a jointly run library system with the school district and Irvine Valley College.

Council members Tuesday night designated Smith to ask league members to postpone their vote until Irvine officials can review the city’s feasibility study.

The league’s library task force has concluded a study of the troubled county library system, which has reduced its annual budget to $22 million from $27 million five years ago and expects to cut another $5 million by the end of the decade.

The league report concluded that the county system would be crippled by the withdrawal of larger “donor” cities such as Irvine, City Manager Paul Brady said.

Irvine contributes $2.8 million of its annual property tax revenue to the county library system, more than any other city. If Irvine opted out of the system, Brady said, it is not certain that the city would be able to keep that money.