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L.A. County hike in special
library tax OK'd
Supervisors vote 4-1 for
50-cent-per-parcel increase to benefit facilities in Lomita,
unincorporated areas.
By Gordon Smith - Copley News Service
June 8, 2005
Despite assertions that the latest in a series of library tax
increases is unjustified, the county Board of Supervisors approved a
2 percent increase in the special library tax on Tuesday that will
benefit libraries in Lomita and unincorporated areas of the South
Bay.
The 50-cent-per-parcel increase was approved on a 4-1 vote over the
objections of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who noted that the budget
of the county public library has increased 102 percent over the past
10 years.
The agency's budget is slated to be augmented by another 33 percent
in the coming fiscal year, Yaroslavsky said, bringing it to $128
million.
"We all love the library, but ... when you know full well you will
have all the money you can spend, why would you raise the tax?" he
asked county librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd.
Todd said that despite the county's generous budget increases over
the years, inflation and state budget cuts have eaten away funding
for the county library.
"We have many facilities that are in need of major, major renovation
and replacement," she said.
However, funds raised from the special library tax must be used for
maintenance and operating costs, not capital improvements,
Yaroslavsky pointed out. The tax, approved by voters in 1997,
assesses all parcels in participating cities and unincorporated
areas a flat fee of $25.22 annually.
In the South Bay, only Lomita and unincorporated areas such as Del
Aire, Lennox and El Camino Village agreed to the tax, which can be
increased by a maximum of 2 percent a year. Tuesday's action by the
board raises the tax to $25.72, and is expected to generate a total
of about $235,000, Todd said.
Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke told Yaroslavsky that many
libraries in her district are in need of additional funds, including
a new library scheduled to be built in Lawndale.
An existing county library in Lawndale operates at a deficit and
needs to have its budget augmented with money from the county's
general fund, Burke added.
However, because Lawndale voters did not approve the special library
tax, the city would not qualify to receive funding for any of its
libraries from the tax increase approved Tuesday.
Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a frequent critic of proposed tax
increases, sided with the majority in voting to raise the library
tax. |