Free library services for people in unincorporated areas is at risk

It's still up in the air whether non-city residents will be able to use local libraries for free.

Property tax money from unincorporated areas such as Lynn Ranch, Ventu Park, Casa Conejo, Rolling Oaks and Lake Sherwood is earmarked for library services and have, by contract, gone from the county to the city of T.O. since 1989 so nonresidents could use nearby library services.

And with a 50 vote the Ventura County Board of Supervisors last week upheld that contract, reversing the decision of the county library commission to cancel the contract and not pay about $195,000 of local taxpayer money to the city for the next fiscal year starting in July. Then they voted 41 to try to renegotiate the contract to save the county money, with Supervisor Linda Parks, a former mayor of T.O., dissenting.

The meeting began on Mon., June 15 and ended the next day. Attending from the city were City Manager Scott Mitnick, City Attorney Amy Albano, library services director Steve Brogden, deputy library services manager Nancy Sevier, assistant city manager Candis Hong, T.O. public information officer Andrew Powers and Conejo Recreation and Park District General Manager Jim Friedl.

The city recently stopped charging nonresidents a $70 annual fee for using the library. The original fee of $55 was put in place in 1991 to control patronage because the facility was overcrowded, according to Mitnick.

Years ago, T.O. residents, who pay property taxes for the library, were having trouble finding chairs to sit in at the library because nonresidents were filling it beyond capacity. At that time, the city had 100,000 residents and library card holders numbered 140,000.

Charging a fee was never about making money, Mitnick said.

By charging $55 to nonresidents, the city actually lost thousands of dollars over the years because the fee made the city ineligible for a state revenue reimbursement program.

Since that time, other nearby cities have added libraries of their own or increased the hours. City officials are hoping that the overcrowding of the past won't repeat now that nonresident fees have been repealed.

The fees were required to borrow materials from the library, not to simply spend time there. Fewer than 400 people were paying the fee before it was rescinded.

About 9,500 people in unincorporated areas weren't charged that fee because the county relinquished the local tax money to Thousand Oaks. But if the county and city can't come to an agreement and the contract is broken by the county, Thousand Oaks would for the first time charge residents of unincorporated areas, Brogden said.

The city would also have to reinstate the library fee at a higher rate- - more than $100 per person.

Beverly Hills and Cerritos, for example, currently charge $100 for nonresident library cards.

A reduction in the number of librarians and in service levels would also have to be considered, Brogden said.

The estimated $195,000 also represents 6,000 adult hardcover fiction books or 7,000 children's hardcover books. In May 2006, the city estimated the cost for providing library services to unincorporated area residents at $387,000, with the revenue from the county at that time estimated at $124,000.