More Cuts Ahead as Library System Restructuring OKd

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday authorized county library officials to proceed with a restructuring plan that will require a new round of budget cuts but promises to eventually stabilize the system’s five-year financial decline.

County Librarian John M. Adams said Tuesday that the 27-branch system must slash its operating budget this fall from $20.5 million to $17.5 million, bringing the total library cutbacks since 1991 to nearly $10 million.

Officials have not determined where the reductions will be made. But they indicated that some branch operating hours might be reduced and that the budget for new book purchases could be cut.

“Given the amount of reductions we have already had to withstand, further reductions will cause a greater deterioration in what library users receive,” Adams said. “About all we have left to cut is staff and library materials. Staffing cuts usually mean shorter [library] hours and a lower quality of service.”

Library patrons expressed dismay Tuesday at the prospect of more cutbacks and questioned whether some struggling branches could sustain them.

“I don’t know what else they can do. It’s so tight right now,” said L.J. Pham, a college student from Westminster who frequents the Garden Grove Regional Library. “It’s going to hurt the children and students . . . who [rely] on these libraries.”

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Until recently, the county had planned to use its dwindling reserves to fill the $3-million shortfall between proposed spending and available revenue. But the restructuring plan calls for the library system to halt its reliance on reserves and to learn to live within its means.

With the upcoming cutbacks, “we will have hit the bottom,” Adams said. “There will be no further cuts anticipated after that point.”

The crisis facing the system began five years ago with the state’s decision to solve its own budget problems by cutting the amount of property tax revenue allocated to libraries and other special districts.

The system’s budget has shrunk from $27 million in 1991 to $20.5 million this year. The county, struggling to recover from its December 1994 bankruptcy, decided that it could not afford to make additional contributions to the libraries, and the idea of a tax increase has garnered little interest.

“What the libraries need most is more money,” said Martha Lydick, president of the Laguna Beach Friends of the Library, who spoke in favor of the reorganization at Tuesday’s board meeting. “The state shift has impoverished libraries to the point that the current framework doesn’t work anymore.”

Under the plan approved Tuesday, the library system will develop a new funding formula designed to more evenly distribute resources to local branches on the basis of tax revenue each city generates.

A few cities have complained that their residents put more money into the system than their local branches receive back in services. Irvine, the largest of these “donor cities,” has threatened to pull out of the system and operate its branches independently.

Adams said the new funding formula takes into account the amount of money cities contribute as well as the usage of each branch and the population it serves. Libraries in some donor cities will likely see increased funding, while branches in subsidized cities might face cutbacks.

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The reorganization plan will also create a new government board that gives cities more of a voice in library operations.

Supervisors endorsed the reorganization effort but removed one line from the proposal that called for the county to “retain the Orange County Public Library as an integrated system.”

“I think it’s premature to draw that conclusion,” said Supervisor Jim Silva, noting that Irvine and perhaps other cities might seek to leave the system.

Irvine will take up the issue this month after the county presents a new funding proposal to the city.

“When you look at going from $27 million to $17 million with the county population increasing and the need for information growing rapidly, it seems like a recipe for disaster,” said Irvine Councilman Greg Smith.