These tensions had been exacerbated by the financial conditions that local government was forced to deal with during the worst recession to hit California since the 1930s. Since the boom period of the 1980s, revenues had rapidly declined, and the state of California, the cities, and the counties all felt the impact.

The County of Contra Costa provided library services to 18 of the 19 cities and maintained a county library system. The County levied a special tax rate that was established many decades ago to fund the libraries. It provided funding to maintain the systems' 23 branch libraries. However, one third of the funds that were committed to these libraries was also taken by the State, leaving the libraries in a difficult condition financially. This resulted in Contra Costa's library system receiving less funding than almost any other library system in the San Francisco Bay Area, ranking 36th out of 37 libraries.

This difficult financial situation caused the largest city in the County to propose a plan to pull out of the County library system and establish their own library. They wanted the County to return all of the library property taxes that were collected within their city limits, claiming that there was a legal precedent to force the issue. The County was concerned that if the largest city pulled out of the County system then other cities might follow.

Prior to pushing the issue to the point of decision, the largest city requested that an outside consultant come in and examine the efficiency and effectiveness of the County library system. They believed that once it could be proven, by an outside third party, that the County system was not well run or effective in the use of the dollars it received, then all the cities would be forced to side with them and pull out.

However, this proposal was not necessarily well received by all the cities. A few suggested that instead of just one city hiring the consultant, that a committee should be formed consisting of all the cities and the county. It would have the responsibility of hiring the consultant and overseeing his work and paying the bills.

Question: If you were the County Librarian what would you do to try and save the library system?

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