Cutbacks looming in hours, services at beach libraries

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Cutbaako looming in hours, services at beach libraries
by Steve Coulter administrator.
BEACH CITIES Faced with a $17 million funding short-
fall, the county library system may be
forced to once again cut back hours at
beach city libraries.
The cutbacks, which could be imple-
mented as soon as Sept. 14 if additional
funds cannot be secured, would affect most
of the 52 cities in the Los Angeles County
library system, including both the Manhat-
tan Beach and Hermosa Beach branches.
In Hermosa Beach, those cutbacks
would mean a reduction of 10 weekly
hours, from 45 to 35, with Manhattan
Beach losing seven hours each week, drop-
ping from 54 to 47, according to Jean
Alexander, the county library's regional
With or without the cutbacks, the Her-
mosa library will remain open five days
per week while Manhattan will be open
siX.
"It means reduced hours for most li-
braries," Alexander said.
Locally, as libraries wait for instruction
from the county, concerns over drastic
spending-budget cutbacks are being
voiced.
many countywide layouts.
Left to deal with a 25-percent funding
shortfall, library officials are hopeful that
layoffs will not be necessary, according to
Alexander.
Initially, county libraries were expecting
to receive a budget of $44 million which
would fall almost $20 million short of the
$68 million needed to operate the system
at its current level.
In the late hours of budget negotiations,
however, an additional $4 million was
added to the budget in order to prevent the
library system from closing down any of
its branches and in hopes of preventing
further layoffs.
"The Board of Supervisors (provided the
additional funding) to prevent closures and
to increase library hours," Alexander said.
"We don't know for sure yet, but our de-
partment is hoping that there will be no
more layoffs."
Part of the additional funding, almost $1
million, was made possible due to an over-
estimation by the Los Angeles County Em-
ployee Retirement Association, according
to Alexander, who claims that county li-
braries will not have to pay the full bill for
retirement funds previously expected for
the coming year.
Despite the shortfall, however, the
county library system is hoping to obtain
an additional $19 million through a Com-
munity Facilities District (CFD), thereby
preventing the cutback in hours.
The CFD would institute an additional
$21-per-home parcel tax onto property tax
to implement the additional prop
on its residents last year, according to
Alexander, who suspects that both cities
will also decline to participate this year.
"I'm sure that Hermosa Beach and Man-
hattan Beach will not participate. The
cities that have enough money (in their
general funds) tend to buy services from
(the county) to make up for the cutbacks,"
Alexander said. "They would rather pay
than burden their residents."
The Manhattan Beach City Council de-
cided against the FD last year because of
concerns raised over assessing an addi-
tional property tax on residents without al-
lowing them to vote on the issue, accord-
ing to Jim Wolfe, Manhattan Beach Parks
and Recreation director.
Although Manhattan Beach is not look-
ing at the CFD as a viable option for solv-
ing its library problems, Wolfe explained
that the city is looking into other options
including the idea of making the Manhat-
tan Beach library independent of the
county. On Aug. 14, a consultant hired by the
city to look at the issue of making the
Manhattan Beach library independent will
be submitting a report to the City Council,
according to Wolfe.
In addition, the city also formed a five-
member library committee in August 1993
to investigate the issue shortly after the
Heights library on Manhattan Beach
Boulevard was closed by the county due to
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"We were lucky to have a good budget
this year to replenish our reference
(books)," said Lila Held, Manhattan Beach
head librarian. "This year, we will have to
rely on the Manhattan Beach Friends of the
Library."
The cutbacks in library funding come as
part of broader, countywide budget slashes
that many hope will ease the burden of the.
(Please turn to page 4)
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1
services at beach libraries
administrator.
With or without the cutbacks, the Her-
mosa library will remain open five days
per week while Manhattan will be open
six.
"It means reduced hours for most li-
braries," Alexander said.
Locally, as libraries wait for instruction
from the county, concerns over drastic
spending-budget cutbacks are being
voiced.
"We were lucky to have a good budget
this year to replenish our reference
(books)," said Lila Held, Manhattan Beach
head librarian. "This year, we will have to
rely on the Manhattan Beach Friends of the
Library."
The cutbacks in library funding come as
part of broader, countywide budget slashes
that many hope will ease the burden of the.
(Please turn to page 4)

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pooy-
*aries
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lack of funding.
"The council wanted to have a commit-
tee in place to look at options that the city
had for library service," Wolfe said. "It
was definitely created in reaction to the cutbacks."
pursuing information about that particular
topic, " said Mary Rooney, Hermosa's as-
sistant city manager. "There has been a lot
of background work done and the city will
remain vitally interested in that possibil-
Like many other cities that have consid-
ered leaving the county library system,
Manhattan Beach realized that the main
issue would be securing funding for ongo-
ing operational costs.
So far, Manhattan Beach has come up
with a number of options, including: gain-
ing control of property tax-generated funds
currently controlled by the county library
system, giving control of local libraries to
a private entity which could generate rev-
enue through sales from adjacent book-
stores and coffeehouses, implementing a
non-resident charge modeled after the one
adopted by El Segundo's independent li-
brary, paying directly out of the city's gen-
eral fund or applying a city assessment tax.
Like the Manhattan Beach City Council,
members of the Hermosa Beach Friends of
the Library (HBFL) have also been looking
into the possibility of creating an indepen-
dent. library in their city but have come to
many of the same conclusions.
"The HBFL have been very active in