The volunteer-run Templeton Library will not receive the tax dollars they requested, after a San Luis Obispo County ad hoc committee cited budget and legal issues with diverting the funding.
Templeton, an unincorporated community, doesn’t have a county library branch. However in 2022, community members opened a volunteer-run library that is privately funded.
The Templeton Library has requested that over $300 thousand in taxes paid by Templeton residents go to fund the popular local institution, instead of the County of San Luis Obispo Public Libraries.
At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Supervisor John Peschong said the tax exchange would mean fewer resources for the county.
“Other libraries would probably have to reduce hours, or there would be less personnel,” Peschong said. “Things like that would happen countywide.”
The county’s library ad hoc committee, which Peschong sat on, also concluded that giving the money directly to the Templeton Library is illegal.
Templeton Community Library Association President Melinda Reed told the board her community isn’t well-served by the closest county branch.
“Patrons must drive seven miles to Atascadero, and there are no safe walking or biking routes,” Reed said.
Reed argued that Templeton residents have a high rate of renewing checked-out books in the county system, because returns are too inconvenient.
In an interview with KCBX, Reed said her institution isn’t trying to take away funding from other libraries.
Instead, Reed said her community is trying to replace the county library branch that was shut down in 1979.
“Templeton was promised a replacement library in a 50/50 deal to build the library. When the county said they had no funds, we built the library,” Reed told KCBX. “Now, the county refuses to give any money for operating the library.”
The ad hoc committee’s report suggested making the Templeton Library “an official materials pick-up location for County Library cardholders.”
During a public comment period at Tuesday’s board meeting, Templeton Community Library Association Vice President Nancy Whitt rejected that idea, saying a previous attempt to collect count materials failed.
“In practice, very few residents used it. The process was cumbersome, and the program was soon discontinued,” Whitt told the board. “Respectfully, it is not a solution.”
Peschong said despite the distance from Templeton to the closest county library branch, many are willing to make the trek.
“I do believe that Templeton deserves a library,” Peschong said. “However my family, and many of the families in my community in Templeton have used the Atascadero Library.”
Peschong suggested instead creating a bond that would fund both the volunteer-run library and the county library system.
The Board of Supervisors ultimately voted to accept the ad hoc committee’s findings and did not divert the revenue to fund the volunteer-run library.
