Hermosa Library Dodges Financial Trouble

Unlike other Los Angeles County public libraries, the Hermosa Beach Public Library will not have to limit library operation hours or Internet access this year to cut expenses.

A total of 48 cities participate in the Los Angeles County public library system and only five — Malibu, Manhattan Beach, West Hollywood, Santa Clarita and Hermosa Beach — showed a profit this year in donations, and allocated tax dollars.

"Cities that contribute more money will have sufficient funds to support their library, like Hermosa Beach does," said County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd. 

Property taxes collected in Hermosa Beach outweigh what it costs to operate the library, according to former City Councilman J.R. Reviczky. Consequently, the city doesn't foresee library budget cuts, he said.

Because the County of Los Angeles Public Library guarantees that a community recovers what it pays in taxes to the library, Todd said that Hermosa Beach's property taxes of about $420,000 per year are enough to fund the library. 

By operating without having to make budget cuts, the Hermosa library is in better financial shape than county libraries in surrounding neighborhoods, she said.

Both Hermosa and Manhattan Beach libraries rejected a proposal in 1994 to increase library revenue by assessing an annual fee of $28.50 per household.

For nearly 16 years the Hermosa City Council debated whether the library should function as a city entity instead of a county one, Reviczky said. The facility has been a part of the Los Angeles County Public Library system since 1913. 

Putting the facility under the city's purview would make it possible to extend the facility's "limited hours," Reviczky said. "It's a scare of the unknown and that's why we're still a county library."