City Neighbors to Still Get Library Services

For another year at least, the Thousand Oaks City Council has decided to prolong a contract with the county to provide library services to the roughly 5,500 residents who live in unincorporated areas bordering the city.

Council members voted 4 to 0 to accept $67,000 from the county to continue the arrangement for another fiscal year while the county sorts out its future library plans.

Negotiations on a possible future city-county contract will also take place, although city leaders expect much more money from the county if it is to happen.

In 1989, Thousand Oaks signed an agreement with the county to provide library services to residents in the communities of Lynn Ranch, Ventu Park and unincorporated sections of Newbury Park. The county now pays the city a yearly fee as a result.

But because the county’s fee has not been nearly as much as it costs Thousand Oaks to provide the service, the city has wound up subsidizing the county residents by about $1.25 million over the years.

Residents’ per capita support for the Thousand Oaks Library has ranged between $40 and $46, while the county contract is only paying Thousand Oaks $9.73 per unincorporated resident, according to a city report.

Hoping to end that imbalance, Library Director Marvin Smith earlier this year recommended ending the agreement with the county and charging residents in the unincorporated areas the same $55 annual fee that other nonresidents must pay.