Library’s Future Draws Crowd

  • “Who wants to see the library stay the same, under current management?” asked County Administrator John Nilon. The response was enthusiastic and unanimous. People’s hands stayed in their laps when asked who wants to privatize management of their library.

    “Who wants to see the library stay the same, under current management?” asked County Administrator John Nilon. The response was enthusiastic and unanimous. People’s hands stayed in their laps when asked who wants to privatize management of their library.

By Patric Hedlund

It was a love-fest in the public seats at “The One 21st Century Library in Kern County” last Thursday.

That is what Kern County Administrator John Nilon called the Frazier Park Library. The nickname mirrors the devotion the public in the Mountain Communities shows for the beautiful—and much-used—facility. Local residents and former Director of Kern County Libraries Diane Duquette struggled for over 20 years to make this library a reality, members of the public reminded Nilon. Now it is a center of community life, and widely appreciated.

The well-attended meeting about the future of the library was fast-paced, filled with facts from Nilon and his staff as well as solid, well-informed comments from the public.

The average spending on public libraries in California is $25 per capita per year. Kern County spends just $8.29 per capita. It has 24 libraries in its system. It is also the only library system that receives funding only from the county’s general fund, Nilon said.

Other cities and counties have independent funding sources, either property taxes (special districts) or a dedicated sales tax, he added. Part of his mission at the meeting was to tell the public that Kern County’s general fund is hurting because of a $40 per barrel drop in the value of oil. Thirty to 50% of Kern County’s tax revenues come from oil, Nilon said, including valuation of oil still in the ground. “We have an austerity plan for the county, including cuts each year for the next four years,” he said.

The county budget is $2.87 billion. Discretionary funds are about $351 million of that, Nilon’s charts showed. The 24 branches of the county library system, serving 880,000 people, have made do on $7.2 million from the county and $500,000 in grants. The Kern County Counsel’s office, serving just the county bureaucracy itself, is funded at close to $12 million he said.

Nilon spoke of $200 million dollars of deferred maintenance in Kern County government facilities and the need to prioritize.

He said that Kern County Sheriff Donnie Youngblood has refused to consider privatizing the jails. “But our solid waste, mental health and golf courses are privatized,” he said. Kern Medical Center is also using privatized management.

The reason he has put library privatization before the board of supervisors is because “an organization brought a proposal to our office,” he said, but then declined to explain what was in that proposal.

Clearly the elephant in the room for those attending was this issue.

Though the county administrator began his presentation by saying “this is not a debate about library privatization,” Pine Mountain resident Jim McDevitt, a retired New York City police officer, stood to say, “Are you saying we cannot express an opinion on the tax and privatization?”

Nilon said he did not have much information about what kind of privatization proposal might come from Library Systems and Services, Inc. (LSSI) owned by Boston private equity firm, Islington Capital Partners.

This was greeted with skepticism by the crowd. It has been widely reported, and public records secured by The Mountain Enterprise confirm, that Nilon’s office has been in communication with LSSI for over a year and a half.

The company has annual revenues of $35 million but will not reveal its annual profits. LSSI has no prior experience running an entire system the size of Kern County’s.

An alternative being discussed is 1/8 of 1% sales tax, which could triple the budget of the library system. Two-thirds of the voters would have to vote ‘yes’ for this to pass.

A recent independent study showed that about 63% of those polled would favor a 1/8 of 1% sales tax if it was dedicated to library use only.

Mary McDevitt said, “I would have thought that you would have brought us more information. You have gone to the expense to come here. We know what LSSI will do. They will take our certified professionals and replace them with people at minimum wage. We have enough poverty here, we do not need more.”

President of Friends of the Library, Judith Brunk, said they do not support increase in the hours and days of service if it means the firing of credentialed library personnel and loss of benefits for library workers.

Shirley Wilson of AARP spoke of the need for this library in a rural area with few cultural resources. She called the library ‘our jewel.’

Mary McDevitt agreed: “This is our jewel. It embodies what we feel about our community. In this day and age to lose things because of politicians [is unacceptable].”

The LSSI plan is seen by many as a way of ridding government of pension responsibilities by employing mainly part time workers.

The call for a show of hands for privatization or a dedicated small sales tax showed unanimous support for keeping current management with a dedicated funding source.

Nilon said the other meetings he’s attended have been “just as passionate.”

Photo captions:

“Who wants to see the library stay the same, under current management?” asked County Administrator John Nilon. The response was enthusiastic and unanimous. People’s hands stayed in their laps when asked who wants to privatize management of their library.

Left: County Administrator John Nilon came face to face with (l-r) Nicole Rand, Jim McDevitt and Cliff Brunk along with about 45 other voters who said they do not support treating privatizing the library as an ‘inevitability.’

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This is part of the December 4, 2015 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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