Status Update: Montecito Library’s Request to Join the City of Carpinteria Library

In 2020 the Friends of the Carpinteria Library and the Friends of the Montecito Library commissionedMJ Gómez and Associates to do a study to determine what could be done for both libraries. The study provided that the Carpinteria Library could become independent, and Montecito library could not. It was pointed out that in Carpinteria, the city’s General Fund and passage of Measure X in 2018, with heavy support from the Friends of the Carpinteria Library, provides enough funding to support the Carpinteria Community Library on its own. The Carpinteria Library separated from the Santa Barbara Library system Zone 1 in 2021-2022, a move similarly employed by the City of Goleta to create their independent library branch. The Carpinteria library’s successful transition – to being city-owned and independent from Santa Barbara – owes much to the hard work of the library director and help from the community volunteers. In January 2021, the City of Carpinteria directed that at least two full years of operation be completed before any decisions were made about the Montecito Library joining Carpinteria Library.

Martín Gómez, of MJ Gómez and Associates, provided a status update to the Carpinteria City Council on Monday, October 28. His remarks included the cogent point that, although there are pros and cons to the Montecito Library joining the Carpinteria Community Library, funding is the ultimate issue. “Montecito,” he said, “has not been able to put together a dedicated revenue stream drawn from public funding. The Montecito Library brings in $125,000 a year in donations that, by definition, may not last forever. Montecito is an unincorporated division in the county and does not have that same access to a city fund, bringing much less revenue to the table. Montecito needs to develop a stronger case as to why they should separate from the Santa Barbara Public Library and join Carpinteria.” He recommended the Montecito Library is best served at this time by remaining with Santa Barbara. 

In her comments, Pat Saley, President of the Friends of the Montecito Library, gave four reasons why Montecito would like to join with Carpinteria: budget, funding, updated programming, and access to the Black Gold System. She asked the council to keep the door open.

With this new update, the Carpinteria City Council and Carp city staff agreed more time is needed to decide whether the Montecito Library should partner with the Carpinteria Community Library. 

411: For the full meeting video visit https://carpinteria.granicus.com/player/clip/1532