Library to receive $250,000 if matching funds raised

If Friends of the Fallbrook Library can raise $250,000 in matching funds, that same amount will be provided by the County of San Diego.

A 5-0 Board of Supervisors vote April 17 approved the allocation of $250,000 of District Five Community Projects funds to Friends of the Fallbrook Library contingent upon the group first raising $250,000. The money will be used for the construction and

furnishing of a new Fallbrook library, and the money will be returned to the county when it is needed for the construction.

“This is good news,” said Jose Aponte, the county’s Library Director. “It’s another step in the right direction toward building the Fallbrook facility.”

In 1997 Friends of the Fallbrook Library funded a $70,000 remodel to create a new children’s room and to expand circulation and workspace, but that expansion eliminated a community room. The 1997 remodel was not sufficient to meet the future needs of Fallbrook, and in 2001 the Board of Supervisors authorized a feasibility study and site search for a new Fallbrook library. The current site, including the parking lot, was deemed ideal for the new library (the county has also purchased an interest in the community parking lot on Alvarado Street to help serve library parking needs), and for the past five years Friends of the Fallbrook Library has been raising money for the new building.

“I want to encourage them on their capital campaign,” said Supervisor Bill Horn.

Each county supervisor has a discretionary Community Projects budget which may be used for schools and non-profit organizations which provide services to county citizens and can also be used to supplement other county funding for specific county projects.

Allocation of the funds requires approval of the Board of Supervisors, although Horn’s colleagues all supported the recommendation.

“We’ve kind of been working out a deal,” Horn said. “My commitment here was to match them for $250,000.”

The money raised by Friends of the Fallbrook Library will also be used for furnishing the new building as well as constructing it.

The April 17 allocations of District Five Community Projects funds also included $10,000 to the Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA for the annual golf classic event which raises money for the YMCA’s outreach program, $5,000 to The Good Guys of Morgan Run for a charity golf tournament to benefit the families of Marines who were killed or wounded in the line of duty, and $1,000 to Soroptomist International of Fallbrook to help cover costs associated with the 2007 Miss Fallbrook pageant.