City Considers Control of Library, Waterworks : Moorpark: Fears over the county’s financial status prompt look at ways to improve service.

Moorpark officials are considering a bid for control of two agencies critical to the city’s 26,000 residents and now operated by Ventura County--the library and the waterworks district.

The renewed interest in local control just weeks after the city’s 10th birthday celebration can be attributed to fears over the county’s financial status and interest in providing better, more localized service, officials say.

“It’s a natural evolution,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said of the city’s desire to control more of the services residents depend upon. “I think it just goes along with the city as it begins to show some signs of maturity and the potential for becoming more self-sustaining than it is at the present time.”

Discussions over the possible takeover of the city’s library began during county budget talks, when it appeared the facility was slated for closure.

The county later decided to keep the Moorpark library open, but with a significant cutback in hours of operation.

With the Moorpark Avenue facility slated to go from 51 hours of operation per week to a 20-hour weekly schedule on Aug. 2, talk of a takeover has persisted. The council last week appointed Lawrason and Councilman Scott Montgomery to discuss the matter with county officials.

Montgomery said Monday he envisions an agreement under which the county would give the city the property-tax revenues it collects from Moorpark residents to pay for library services and the city would agree to operate the library.

“Essentially the city would be a subcontractor or a contractor for the services,” Montgomery said. “I think it would save the county money. The county has consistently maintained that it costs them more money than we contribute in property taxes to run the library.”

But while city officials are eyeing the roughly $300,000 the county collects from Moorpark residents for library services, a county official said Monday that nearly a third of that is taken by other special districts and the state before it ever gets to Moorpark.

Of $319,552 in gross collections from Moorpark residents for library services in fiscal year 1992-93, only $220,475 was actually available for use to operate the library, said Alan Langville, a manager with the county Library Services Agency.

Meanwhile, it cost about $300,000 to operate the Moorpark library in fiscal year 1991-92, Langville said, leaving the county to make up the difference.

“The city would not come out ahead as far as I can see,” Langville said of Montgomery’s suggestion. “I don’t see that it’s to the city’s advantage unless the city has more money to put into the library.”

Also at issue is whether a takeover bid would disrupt a planned 50% library expansion to which the county has agreed to contribute nearly $200,000. Moorpark has agreed to chip in $65,000 to the roughly $250,000 project.

Montgomery said he will seek to use the money that the county has set aside for expansion to keep the library on its current 51-hour schedule, but Lawrason said that is unlikely, since the money is earmarked for construction and not operation costs.

“I don’t believe those funds are going to be available for operational usage,” Lawrason said. “I think we need to forget that idea.”

A city takeover of Ventura County Waterworks District No. 1 seems to be a less involved issue.

Both Lawrason and Montgomery support studying the feasibility of the city taking over the waterworks district, which was suggested by Councilman Bernardo Perez during a recent council meeting.

“I definitely think it should be done,” Montgomery said. “I tend to lean toward acquisition of the district.”

Such a feasibility study was conducted in the late 1980s and found that the city was not able to shoulder the economic burden of owning its own water district.

“I think the situation has changed rather remarkably in the past five years and I believe that we’re at the point where it would be in the best interests of the people that we do that,” Montgomery said.

In fact, the 1992-93 Ventura County Grand Jury, in its final report, called for the county and the city of Moorpark to revisit the transfer of the 10,000-customer district to the city.

Lawrason said control over the district would allow the city to set its own water rates and offer users more customized service.