LIBRARY REPORT SPURS NEW DEBATE : VENTURA COUNTY STUDY URGES CHANGE.

Byline: Christopher Noxon Daily News Staff Writer

Library supporters hoped this week would be a turning point in the troubled history of the Ventura County system, with the release of the first comprehensive report giving officials a list of reforms to rally behind.

No such luck.

Packed into a ballroom of the Oxnard Hilton on Thursday night for the formal release of the $40,000 study, officials said they feared the report has done more to highlight political tensions than potential solutions for the chronically underfunded 15-branch system.

The report has spurred a new round of debate, with county and local officials squaring off over questions not addressed in the report. While the consultants who prepared the document defended their work as a practical guide to solving the local logjam, some local officials accused the Texas-based experts of glossing over thorny matters of finances and responsibility.

``They dodged all the tough questions,'' said Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton. ``They gave us operational detail about how a new system would work, but they didn't show us how to run this new beast.''

Some library supporters, however, said discontent with the report has less to do with its contents than with the longstanding mistrust between local and county officials.

``The consultant made several dozen suggestions, including specific suggestions about how we can increase hours by 20 percent,'' said George Berg, president of Friends of the Library. ``That's being totally overlooked. Skepticism is perhaps warranted, but joining into solutions is a great deal more useful.''

The 140-page report from Providence Associates Inc. recommends a top-to-bottom overhaul of the system, crippled by drastic reductions in state funding. The study concludes that the system should be split into independent districts, cutting central administration costs and giving local governments more responsibility over their neighborhood libraries.

County Supervisor Frank Schillo said the final report vindicates what critics have said about the county system for years.

``The fact is we have too much overhead in the county,'' Schillo said. ``We need to trim it down and get more people at the front counters so we're open more hours.''

Consultants recommended a ``major departure'' in the way libraries are organized. The current system, said consultant David Price, has too many administrators, while local libraries are forced to cancel programs, eliminate positions and reduce hours.

Reorganizing the management would allow libraries to lengthen their hours of operation by 20 percent, the report said. And the county could save money by cutting central staff from 33 to just five employees, while still providing a basic level of service at all branches.

But city officials said the study neglects to mention the specific involvement of individual cities, and does not delve into how the administration should be reformed.

``I'm pleased to see they think it can be done, but we're not told how,'' Stratton said. ``They opened up more questions than we had before.''

The consultants recommend that the county and individual cities form a joint-powers authority, which would provide shared services like buying books, reference materials and technological services, said consultant Richard Waters. Individual cities would take over the management and direction of their libraries, as well as some of the funding.

The consultants also recommended a ballot measure in November 1997, in which voters would be asked to raise $9 million for libraries through a one-eighth cent sales tax increase.

But local leaders said that officials must regain public trust in the system before sponsoring a ballot initiative, which would require a three-fourths margin to pass.

``We'd be crazy to go out and ask for a tax increase until we get our house in order,'' Schillo said. ``When we increase the hours and squeeze all the fat out, then we can reasonably ask voters for more money. But we have to show the public we're willing to streamline the organization to make the organization more meaningful to them.''

While a proposed tax hike raised the hackles of many local officials, an increase in either sales or property taxes will probably be necessary to make meaningful improvement to libraries, said Berg, the Friends of the Library president.

``There is no free lunch,'' he said. ``The consultants have proposed a way to keep us from starving to death. If we want to eat decently we have to pay for it.''

A panel of city council members and county supervisors will begin meeting next month to begin implementing changes suggested in the report. Schillo said the future of libraries is passing into the hands of local officials.

``I know cities can run libraries better than the county,'' he said. ``This report just proves that.''

The study, in fact, may strengthen the resolve of local officials who want to break away entirely from the county library administration, Stratton said.

``We're better off going on our own,'' he said. ``If we stay in we have to futz around with the county and deal with different people who want the best for their individual libraries. I am not going to shortchange my residents to benefit the rest of the county.''