Santa Paula Library Rejects City Offer

Trustees of the cash-strapped Blanchard Community Library in Santa Paula have rejected the city’s offer to take over the historic institution, mainly because they want to remain autonomous.

In a 3-2 vote Tuesday, the trustees turned down a package that would have made the library a city department and the City Council its governing body. The move also would have added at least $55,000 to the facility’s operating budget.

“I think it would have benefited the library and the people,” said longtime trustee Dora P. Crouch, who voted in favor of the takeover. “I think it’s a normal thing for a library to be under the control of the city it is located in. That’s how it was organized when I was a child.”

The library, part of a special district, is one of only about a dozen in the state that operate independently of a city or local school system.

Crouch said fellow board members rejected the offer because they wanted more time to consider the city’s plan and because they saw benefits in remaining independent.

The rejection came as a surprise to City Council members, who also met Tuesday, because trustees of the 93-year-old library had asked city officials more than two months ago for help in saving the troubled operation.

“They made a request for assistance, and we came forward with outstretched arms and they summarily rejected it,” City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said. “We could have operated it less expensively than the [library] district -- and this at a time when not a lot of cities are taking on additional services.”

By rejecting the city’s offer, trustees are counting on the passage of a property tax increase in the March election to help stabilize the library’s financial status. The increase would boost the library’s levy on property owners from $25 to $40 annually.

With a current annual budget of about $475,000, which includes some state funding, library trustees also are bracing for deeper economic cuts recently proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The cuts are expected to further erode municipal budgets across the state.

Bobkiewicz said city leaders still supported the library but hoped it wouldn’t take a turn for the worse. Last month, the city’s only hospital closed and filed for bankruptcy protection.

The trustees’ action prompted one panel member to resign. Joanne Wright, who joined Crouch in supporting the takeover, stepped down from her post Tuesday, saying a good opportunity had been missed.