Irvine urged to clarify library budget using Newport Beach model

Anita Coleman argued in a July 14 Voice of OC opinion piece that Irvine should publish a clearer, branch-level library budget and adopt a stable long-term funding policy for its independent library system.

The debate centers on local accountability in Orange County, where Irvine has taken responsibility for library funding while Newport Beach offers a detailed public model for tracking library spending.

In the Voice of OC piece, Coleman, a 30-plus-year Irvine resident and adjunct faculty member of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign iSchool, wrote: "Local control means more than collecting library revenue: it requires transparent budgeting, sustainable funding, and public accountability."

Coleman compared Irvine's adopted FY2025-27 budget with Newport Beach's FY 2026-2027 proposed budget. She said Newport Beach lists library spending by branch and department, including Central Library, Mariners, Balboa and Corona del Mar, while Irvine's Fund 124, the Library Fund, appears inside a 540-page biennial budget without branch-level detail.

According to Voice of OC, Newport Beach's proposed budget includes $4,516,961 for Central Library, a 10.1 percent increase, and $11,314,378 for the total library department, a 7.81 percent increase. Irvine's Library Fund shows $9,000,000 in property tax revenue and $8,995,903 in expenditures for 2025-26, and $10,251,812 in revenue with $10,246,075 in spending for 2026-27.

Coleman also pointed to Irvine capital improvement plans that identify four library-related projects. Voice of OC reported those plans include $2.25 million for planning studies and $129 million in future capital needs, including $49.75 million for a Great Park library, $24.5 million for University Park library, $35 million for Heritage Park campus and related library uses and $20 million for general library improvements.

The opinion piece said Irvine's operating spending is about $28 per resident in FY2025-26, or 68 percent of the Orange County Public Libraries benchmark of $41.59, and about $32 per resident in FY2026-27, or 77 percent of that benchmark. Coleman contrasted that with Newport Beach's $129.09 per resident and noted Irvine awarded a $500,000 Library Master Plan contract to Group 4 Architecture, with reporting expected in 2027.

"Local control carries three obligations: publish the budget, explain the budget, and sustain the budget." Coleman wrote in Voice of OC.

Coleman said Irvine should publish recurring library-specific schedules, make its state library survey filing public when submitted and set a funding floor tied to Orange County Public Libraries per-capita spending.