Property taxes earmarked for library services for 9,500 residents of unincorporated areas adjacent to Thousand Oaks will continue to support the city’s library system currently used by those residents.

Earlier this month, Ventura County sent payment of $191,825 to Thousand Oaks against the recommendation of the cash-strapped Ventura County Library Commission, which had voted to end the yearly payments and keep the money for its own libraries.

The money tug-of-war meant either the county or the city library system would have faced cutbacks. One or the other would have been forced to reduce staff, services or the purchase of reading materials. For example, about 6,000 adult hardcover fiction books or 7,000 children’s hardcover books cost $195,000.

In June, the Ventura County Supervisors voted to reverse the library commission’s decision and began negotiating with Thousand Oaks about whether to continue a 20-year agreement between the county and the city under which the county passes on the property tax money for the city to provide library services.

“Without this payment, the city threatened to begin charging residents who’ve always had free access to their neighborhood library,” said Supervisor Linda Parks. “As a representative of the county, I want to do everything I can to see that budget shortfalls don’t deny the public access to basic government services such as fire, police, parks, libraries and roads.”

In July, the Thousand Oaks City Council voted to continue to discuss potential alternatives to the existing library funding agreement for nonresidents near Thousand Oaks, including those who live in Lynn Ranch, Ventu Park, Casa Conejo, Rolling Oaks and Lake Sherwood.

Since that time, city and county staff have met and will continue to meet and negotiate library funding and services for unincorporated areas, said city spokesperson Andrew Powers.

“As these negotiations continue, the existing funding agreement remains in place. At no time were unincorporated area residents in jeopardy of losing local library service,” Powers said.

The city recently stopped charging nonresidents a $70 annual fee for using the library. The original borrower’s fee was put in place in 1991 to control the number of users because the library was overcrowded with patrons from outside Thousand Oaks, said City Manager Scott Mitnick.

City residents, who pay property taxes for the library, were having trouble finding places to sit at the library because nonresidents—some of whom now have libraries in their communities— were filling it beyond capacity. At that time, the city had 100,000 residents and library card holders numbered 140,000.

By charging a borrower’s fee 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 for which it now qualifies.