City Council Approves Fee Allocation for Branch Libraries

Money and libraries have been mutually incompatible concepts in recent years, with reserve monies dwindling away to nothing, especially at small-branch libraries. These straits became especially painful last year, when the City of Santa Barbara, under its own monetary squeeze, declared during budget deliberations that it was getting out of the business of subsidizing branch libraries beyond city borders. Out of the storms that followed was a decision by Goleta to run its library separately and a decision by the County Board of Supervisors that Solvang and Buellton would join it. Those chickens are coming home to roost.

At a special meeting on Wednesday, the Goleta City Council pondered for two hours the relative merits of four possible ways to charge for library services that benefit the Buellton and Solvang branches. No method presented any savings to the branches, which have no financial reserves left. Library Director Allison Gray spoke to the fact that no economy of scale flows to Goleta from the additional libraries; rather, new expenses like sending out books have cropped up. And the sum to the branches is approximately what Santa Barbara would charge — roughly $50,000.

Goleta is a “general law” city and bound by state rules of municipal operation. One of those rules requires that Goleta taxpayer money remain in Goleta; in other words, it cannot pay another municipality’s library bill. As a city established by charter, Santa Barbara was able to pay for libraries in areas that became cities, which is how it eventually found itself in the role of subsidizing library branches. For Buellton and Solvang, any shortfall in their library budgets will have to be paid by the cities. Their respective City Councils will be deciding on library management and funding issues at upcoming meetings.