Tax Hikes Can Be Dubious, but Here’s One for the Books

I’ve had it with taxes. The feds and the state fight over my paycheck. In the years since President Clinton’s 1993 inaugural speech about sacrificing for the common good (he meant pay higher taxes), I haven’t seen evidence that common good included me. And it’s little comfort that the president feels my pain.

I’ve vowed to support anybody who backs a realistic tax reduction. I’ve sworn to vote against, or oppose, any plan or initiative that’s going to mean higher taxes anywhere for anybody.

Then I get a call from Cecil Rospaw. He’s a retired Placentia newspaperman and a historian for that city. Rospaw asks me to say something nice about a tax issue on the ballot in Placentia, to help a special district there. Kind words for a special district tax increase?

Then Rospaw hits below the belt. He knows my weakness. It’s to support a library, he says. A darned good library, he says, one that’s in trouble.

Placentia, I’ve learned since, has a great library tradition. Before there was an incorporated city (1926), the people there built schools, and then they built a library (1919). That’s why it’s one of only two special library districts in the county (the other is in Buena Park.) It was there before the city, so there was a need to form a district to provide a tax base. Its boundaries today are basically the city boundaries, plus a few dozen other homes in nearby unincorporated areas.

If this new tax proposal passes, says Placentia library director Elizabeth Minter, its book budget (which includes magazines) could be up to what she considers comfortable, about $175,000 a year. This past year it was at $58,000, and without the new tax hike it could become even worse.

“That means we’d have to lay off staff [to move money to the book budget], which would mean a reduction in hours,” she said. “Because you just can’t be a library without a decent budget for books.”

The ballot issue is called Measure W. If passed, it would amount to a $29 increase per year for single-family residences, $24 for those in apartments. About the cost of a single book. Those owning commercial parcels would pay between $70 and $100 more annually.

It’s no shoo-in to pass. People are sick of more taxes, and it takes a two-thirds majority to win. But it’s got a few things in its favor:

Placentia has some 24,000 library cardholders, which was slightly higher than the city’s turnout in the last presidential election. There’s not much budget for campaigning for it, but Minter and her chief librarian, Suad Amman, are out pushing Measure W on their own. There’s also a Measure W committee, which Rospaw is part of. Amman came away with a nice victory last week when the city’s Chamber of Commerce voted to support the measure.

One more point encouraging to Minter: Nobody filed any formal opposition papers. She chuckled: “We were right there the day of the filing deadline to see if anyone did.”

Despite the library’s financial troubles, Placentia is still a great library town. I was there twice last week and it was as busy as any library I’ve seen. It’s one of only two libraries in the county that remains open Sunday afternoons (the other is in Newport Beach).

“Sunday is our busiest day,” Minter said. “No matter how bad things might get, people will always want us to be open on Sundays.”

Right now it’s closed on Fridays. Give us Measure W, Minter said, and it will be a seven-day operation.

A Fine Idea? In Anaheim, the public library system is seeking help from its patrons to determine its future. Director Christopher Jarvi has sent out a letter to local residents, asking them to come to a public forum at the Central Library on Broadway Avenue on Sept. 28, a Saturday.

The goal, he writes to them, is to create a strategic plan to “provide us with an understanding of what our direction should be for the future.”

In the letter to my wife and me, Jarvi states: “You have been a supporter of our libraries.” I asked my wife if she had been a supporter, and she replied: “Only in fines.”

If you live in Anaheim and want some say about its library future, you might give Jarvi a call at (714) 254-1880.

Final Halos: Remember how excited you were in April, when you looked at the schedule to see when the Angels would be playing at home? It hasn’t quite worked out the way you thought, eh? You know your season has gone sour when a game is canceled because of rain (the Angels at Kansas City on Sunday) and nobody wants to make it up.

But if you love a night (or day) at the ballpark, even with the Angels in last place, here’s your final chance: The Angels begin their final homestand tonight against Oakland (7:05). It’s Oakland again Wednesday night, an off day Thursday, then division-leading Texas comes in for three games starting Friday. Final games here: a three-game series against Seattle starting Monday--the last one an afternoon game. The Angels are on the road against Texas the final four games of the season.

Wrap-Up: In handout material on Measure W, Minter and the library board offer this added reason for keeping the library financially stable: “The elementary and junior high schools in Placentia have no professional librarians. The high school libraries are open only during school hours. Reduced library service means many children will never be exposed to books and self-initiated learning, and will have severely limited access to materials to prepare their homework.”

If this measure doesn’t pass, it won’t be because the library staff didn’t make the effort.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com