Irvine city leaders are looking at jumping out of the Orange County Public Library system and running their own libraries after the city council unanimously agreed to send county leaders a letter notifying them they were planning on pulling out.
But there are some big questions over what that means for the future of the city and county’s libraries, with control of millions of dollars up in the air.
Currently, Irvine is the largest city still in the county library network and contributes the most money to it via property taxes, with the city’s $17 million contribution this year making up 28% of the total funding the library system receives from property taxes according to city staff.
But according to city manager Oliver Chi, the city’s three existing libraries only cost about $5 million to run per year.
“The cost of delivering services in Irvine are well below the amount of funding the city contributes into the system,” Chi said at the council’s Feb. 28 meeting. “The county likes to use the excess dollars we have for priorities the county sets.”
Despite the city’s contributions, the city’s libraries only make up 11% of the county’s system, and the last time they got a new library was 15 years ago in 2008 according to a city staff report.
“We want a bit more equity when it comes to our own libraries,” said Councilwoman Tammy Kim at the council’s last meeting. “We’re close to 30 or 40 years without any notable improvements on our existing infrastructure…we are currently subsidizing the county library operation.”
City leaders have been looking at leaving the program for over a decade, pointing out how many of their tax dollars were being sent to other cities in 2012.
In response to that complaint, the county library system agreed to set aside some of the excess cash and figure out a way to use it in Irvine, a pot that has ballooned to $28 million.
But over the past two years the city and county haven’t been able to agree on how to spend that money, with the city arguing it’s theirs to invest how they want while the county argues it’s needed to expand existing facilities according to a city staff report.
But a spokesperson for the county library system says the delays came from the city’s inaction, adding that it was the city’s inability to make up its mind over any projects that stopped them from using the money.
“Unfortunately, the city did not decide on how they wished to move forward with the use of funds, so the County was unable to proceed with any library expansion projects during this time,” said David Lopez, the marketing and communications librarian, in a statement to Voice of OC.
The deal between the city and the county expires this year, meaning the $28 million will not be increasing going forward.
Lopez said it’s unclear who will hang onto that $28 million pot with the county and Irvine looking to go their separate ways.
“We don’t have specific information at this time,” Lopez said.
At the council’s last meeting, most residents came out in support of their leaving the system, saying they should be able to keep their tax dollars focused on their own cities.
But some brought up concerns about whether or not it would create problems for the rest of Orange County’s cities.
“I support more affluent cities assisting less affluent cities,” said commenter Susan Sayre. “For those of you who claim to be concerned about social justice…have you considered that withdrawal could impact seniors, the disabled, and those for whom English is not the primary language?”
Lopez declined to comment on whether other libraries would suffer with Irvine pulling out, claiming it was “too early to speculate.”
But he added that Irvine residents wouldn’t be able to access county resources and would instead have to rely on the national library loan program, which can sometimes take longer to deliver books.
“The county is in discussions with the City,” Lopez said. “And hopes this can be resolved to the benefit of all member city and Irvine residents.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.