Council Backs Library Rescue Plan

VENTURA â€”  The City Council has embraced a plan to rescue the county’s financially strapped libraries, but stopped short of setting aside any additional money to spare Ventura’s smallest branch from closure.

A handful of library supporters waited until nearly midnight Monday to ask the council to earmark money in next year’s budget for the tiny Ventura Avenue branch, which is set to close this summer.

Library activists also asked the council to set aside as much as $400,000 to retain library services at E.P. Foster and Wright libraries in case county funding falls through.

But city leaders said they want to wait until the Board of Supervisors decides how much money is available in the county’s budget for libraries before taking any action.

“We do not know the numbers we are dealing with as far as the county is concerned,� Councilman Jim Friedman said.

Instead, the council voted 6 to 0 to:

* Recommend that the county supervisors adopt a preliminary budget that would close small branches but maintain the current level of service at medium and large branches, including Foster and Wright.

* Support a plan to redistribute $1.2 million from property taxes in the county’s unincorporated area and $575,000 in other revenue sources to medium and large libraries.

* Earmark $50,000 in city funds to help develop a so-called community library planning process.

* Endorse a plan to form a federation that would turn operation of the libraries over to the cities.

* Support a countywide benefit-assessment district that would come before the voters on the November ballot.

“This is wonderful,� county Librarian Dixie Adeniran said after the meeting. “I am very encouraged that things seem to be coming together.�

Last week, the city of Camarillo approved a similar set of recommendations. The city of Moorpark is scheduled to take up the issue tonight.

But the fate of the Ventura Avenue library is still a cause for alarm for some west Ventura residents.

Cuts in state funding in the last four years have slashed the county’s Library Services Agency budget from about $10 million a year to $5.8 million. County officials now say there is no money to support the smaller branches.

As a result, western Ventura residents and library activists want the city to find the money to keep the library open.

“This is where a public library is most needed,� said Ventura resident Lynn Nelson, one of about 10 library supporters at Monday’s meeting.

“A lot of people who use the library are seniors,� said resident Maxine Culp. The branch serves an older and less-affluent clientele that would have difficulty getting to one of the city’s other libraries, she said.

“We really do need it,� Culp told the council. “And I think we deserve it.�

Mayor Jack Tingstrom was absent from the meeting after suffering a mild heart attack. He was in good condition Tuesday and is expected to be released from the hospital in a few days.