‘Stupid.’ ‘Terrible.’ Fresno officials, Friends of Library hate the idea of privatization

A Fresno City Council member says he will ask his colleagues to support a resolution to keep the Fresno County Library public as county officials have said they’ll examine privatization.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to see a report on the potential savings from privatization of the library on or before the Oct. 20 meeting, but they are not expected to vote that day.

The idea comes as county leaders look ahead to next year for what could be a $40 million to $240 million shortfall under the Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” How many dollars in savings privatization could bring has yet to be made public.

Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi said Monday at a news conference he will ask the city council and Mayor Jerry Dyer to support his resolution.

“We want to send a strong message that over half the population of this county, living in the city of Fresno, their leaders stand firm and solid against privatizing our libraries and limiting access,” Karbassi said. “We should never put profits ahead of the welfare of our children. That is exactly what privatization will do. It is a stupid idea.”

The county board gave CAO Paul Nerland direction earlier this month to bring the privatization report back as an informational item because two supervisors — Buddy Mendes and Brian Pacheco — will no longer be on the board at the end of the year. And a third supervisor, Nathan Magsig, looks to also be en route to a higher elected seat and off the county board soon.

The resolution also comes as Karbassi is running for the county’s District 1 seat. His opponent and Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco has also spoken out against the idea of privatization.

“I’m against privatizing the library, and I’ve been very public about that,” she told The Bee recently. “And I think that libraries are more than just books. For many families, libraries provide internet access. That’s a huge issue that we have out here in rural Fresno County.”

The Fresno Friends of the Library, a nonprofit group of supporters, is also against privatizing the public catalog. President Shannon Wise said she didn’t need to see the county’s plan to know it is a bad idea.

She said Measure B, which was approved by voters, makes up for 97% of the Fresno County Library’s budget. She said private library operators find their savings by cutting services, hours of operations and even employees.

“The private equity exists for one reason: profit. They will destroy what they buy in order to get as much money out of it as they can,” she said.

Wise also said privatizing Fresno County’s locations would have effects on libraries throughout the San Joaquin Valley. The counties from Merced to Kern counties share their catalogs, and that relationship would likely be broken if Fresno’s were made private, according to Wise.

Library Systems and Services Inc., which is headquartered in Maryland, runs a number of private library systems in California and other states. The company touts Riverside, Moreno Valley and other municipalities under its “success stories” label on its website. Leaders in Santa Clarita reversed their decision after not being happy with the private contractor.

Supervisor Luis Chavez was also part of the news conference, saying he would not back privatization.

“It’s not bad, it’s terrible,” he said.