Moorpark Agrees to Charge Developers Library Fee

Lauded for its creativity by a top county official, the city of Moorpark will become the first in Ventura County to charge developers a fee to pay for library materials.

Moorpark’s new library financing method is the sort of innovation that was expected once cities were given more control from the county Library Services Agency, Supervisor Frank Schillo said Thursday.

“When we broke up the library system so that local cities would have more say, this is what I envisioned: That each city would find creative ways to fund library services,” said Schillo, who helped craft a plan to restructure the library agency. “This is the whole point of what I started two years ago.”

The Moorpark City Council, in a split vote Wednesday night, decided to charge developers hundreds of dollars for every new home they build. The money would go toward library materials, including books, tapes, periodicals, computer software and hardware.

The rationale is that developers should pay for the greater demand for library materials created by the increased number of residents their new homes attract, Moorpark Mayor Patrick Hunter said.

“This is just one way of addressing an inadequate library situation and by no means was this an attempt to provide an overall fix for the library,” he said.

Moorpark set the fees at $460 per single-family dwelling, $298 per condominium, duplex or apartment unit and $306 per mobile home space. Developers would have to pay 10 cents for each square foot of new commercial property built.

Few officials of other Ventura County cities were aware of the Moorpark plan, but several said Thursday they wanted to investigate the library funding idea.

“Libraries are having a difficult time,” Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell said. “At first mention, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but I’d like to do some research. First, is it legal and what are the downsides? It has a lot of positives though.”

The city of Ventura, which has considered breaking away from the Library Services Agency, said it may now begin discussing the idea of adopting an ordinance similar to the one in Moorpark.

“I think the city has been pretty open-minded in exploring everything, so there’s no reason they wouldn’t at least take a look at it,” said Ventura Councilman Jim Friedman, a liaison between the city and the county on library issues.

“There are lots of other fees that developers currently have placed on their projects,” Friedman said. “I don’t know how this would fit in the mix, but I’m sure if this is brought before the council, they would be more than happy to deal with it.”

Moorpark’s ordinance takes effect in a month, but city officials don’t expect any significant revenue for a while. While money from small commercial developments could arrive soon, the fees from large residential projects won’t come in for at least two years, city officials said.

The library fee plan created a split on the board. Hunter and council members John Wozniak and Chris Evans approved the ordinance. Councilwoman Debbie Teasley opposed it, and Councilman Bernardo Perez voted in favor of allowing the city to charge developers for libraries, but voted against the amount of the fee.

Teasley and Perez both said there should be further discussion on other fund-raising methods for the library that would provide a steady source of revenue.

“This is only one piece of the puzzle and I think it would have been more prudent to look at the picture comprehensively and longer term,” Perez said.

The additional fees could bring in a significant portion of money if projects such as Hidden Creek Ranch are approved. The project, the subject of weeks of fierce debate at City Hall, could eventually create up to 3,220 homes north of Moorpark College.

Gary Austin, vice president of Hidden Creek developer Messenger Investment Inc., said he does not have any formal comment on the new library levy, but added, “I think that the best position is taken by the Building Industry Assn., because they represent the home builders that would pay the fees, so I would defer to them.”

The association, which represents California builders, has questioned how the amount of fees were determined and asked the City Council to consider discussing another way to set the fees.

The group has argued that new homeowners will ultimately pay the fees in the form of higher home costs and that it’s not fair for a few new residents to pay for materials that will be made available to everyone in Moorpark.