Will Thompson, president of the San Buenaventura Friends of the Library announced a fundraising campaign to save the Wright Library from closure and added his voice to two earlier speakers' pleas for some sort of tax measure to keep libraries and other essential services afloat in these tough times.

"Since money is the problem, we need to step in and urge the City Council to place upon the ballot of some upcoming election a tax measure that would somehow provide stable funding for our libraries," Thompson told the packed room. An overflow crowd watched on TV from the adjacent community room.

Ventura County Library Director Jackie Griffin explained the system is now facing a fiscal year 2009-10 deficit of $650,000. Two of Ventura's three libraries, Wright and E.P. Foster, use 40 percent of all extra money available to the county library system, in addition to property tax revenues collected here which are designated for library use. Griffin recommended that Wright be closed and its collection moved to the Downtown Foster Library, saving nearly $300,000 a year. The small Avenue Library is funded through federal block grants and would remain open.

In flusher times, the City of Ventura has been able to step in to rescue library services. With the possibility of $8 million being trimmed from the general fund by next year, coming on the heels of $7 million in cuts made in the last year, the city isn't able to step up this time.

The county is also facing difficult times, Chief Financial Officer Marty Robinson said last week. "This is the worst I've seen it and I have been around 30-35 years in the system."

THE WRIGHT LIBRARY'S FATE ultimately resides with the County Library Commission and not the Ventura City Council. Adding to the complications is the fact that the building is owned by Ventura College and the $1-a-year lease is up in 2015.

"They've made it very clear to us that in 2015 the lease would ... either be ended or be renegotiated much closer to market rate," said Ventura Community Services Director Elena Brokaw. This would put the building, which is in need of repairs, out of reach financially as a library.

Councilman Bill Fulton said he felt it was unlikely that the Wright could remain in its present spot past 2015, but he was willing to give fundraising efforts time to work as a stopgap until a new facility could be built, possibly with state grant funding, in the city's Community Park on Telegraph and Kimball. Camarillo recently constructed a new facility in this manner.

On a unanimous vote, the council directed staff to work with the Friends of the Library on a fundraising plan and ask Griffin to explore how much time the efforts have before a final decision is needed. Councilmen Carl Morehouse and Ed Summers offered to donate their $600 council salaries this month to the effort.

Another part of the motion put discussions for a possible sales tax measure on the agenda for next week. This could provide sustainable funding for a new library and other services. Oxnard and Port Hueneme recently passed general-purpose tax measures, which only require a majority vote.

Venturans will soon find more than their libraries missing in the upcoming budget cuts, said City Manager Rick Cole. "We have a lot of budget challenges and there are going to be a lot more rooms filled with people concerned about things they care about. ..."