News

Santa Cruz County supervisors voted on Dec. 16 to end an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the City of Nogales to fund three branch libraries in Rio Rico, Tubac and Sonoita.

This doesn't mean the county will pull the rug out from under those branches, which function as part of the Nogales-Santa Cruz County Public Library. But it will change the way they are funded, said County Manager Greg Lucero.

Follow up:

The county wants to create a library tax district this spring to support those branches rather than paying out of the general fund, Lucero said. General fund revenues from the state have dropped and the county has had to slash expenses and lay off employees.

"They (county taxpayers) are paying for (library service) now," Lucero said. "The general fund comes from the taxpayers."

Supervisors planted the seeds for the library district in August 2009, when they directed staff to permit them to create the district before the end of the current fiscal year, said Board Clerk Melinda Meek.

State law requires the county to give a six-month notice to terminate the IGA with the City of Nogales, which will now end on June 30, 2010, Lucero said.

The vote on the IGA came as a surprise to library board member Tom McAlpin.

"Any action taken by the supervisors will impact the responsibility entrusted to us to serve the county," McAlpin said at the Dec. 16 meeting.

Lucero promised to meet with members of the library board as the county develops its library district plans.

The vote surprised the City of Nogales as well, said Finance Director Teresa Ramirez.

"We did not receive any advance notice ¬- through the city manager's office, library director or board - that they would terminate the agreement," Ramirez said. "Basically, it was a unilateral action."

Under the IGA, the county pays 40 percent of the library system's total budget, which is $527,548 this year, said Suzanne Haddock, director of the Nogales Santa Cruz Public Library.

The county uses its own buildings to house the Tubac and Sonoita libraries, but has to pay to lease a building in Rio Rico, Lucero said. This brings the county's library expenses to about $232,000 per year.

State statutes allow the county to create a few tax districts, such as library and public health, without going to the voters, Lucero said. He expected county supervisors to hold a public hearing on the tax district during the budget process in May and June 2010.

It would be a secondary property tax of about 4 cents per $100 of property value, Lucero estimated. But the rate may depend on whether the cities of Nogales and Patagonia decide to participate.

"If we were to opt in, what effects would that have on our library services?" asked John Kissinger, deputy city manager. "The details have not been hammered out."

The county has approached Haddock to set up a meeting with city officials, Kissinger said.

"We'd try to make it as simple as possible," Lucero said. "There is no set cookie-cutter way to run a library district."

In fact, there are about nine different models, Haddock said. In Arizona, 11 of the 15 counties fund their library services through a library district, she said.

Haddock said "it's too early to tell" if the change will affect services at the branch libraries.

"I don't see anything changing," Lucero said, except the governing board. Under the new district, the board of supervisors will become the library board.

By Denise Holley