What’s at stake?
Local groups are beginning to mount opposition toward the county’s potential privatization of its library system. However, the likelihood of privatization is not strong, at least not with the current board of supervisors.
Conversations around privatizing Fresno County libraries are heating up, and while potential cost savings and program changes remain enormous question marks, one thing is clear — supporters of the idea don’t have the votes to make it happen.
At least not today.
And with a report due back to the Board of Supervisors as soon as late October, it remains increasingly unlikely that any such vote could happen with the board’s current makeup.
A vote to privatize the library requires a super majority of at least four of the five supervisors. The board’s two Democratic supervisors are already flatly opposed and at least two of the board’s conservative leaders remain uncommitted either way, including Chair Garry Bredefeld who initiated the conversation earlier this year.
Supervisor Luis Chavez told Fresnoland on Thursday that the next step in that conversation could be as soon as Oct. 20 but said there’s no current timetable for a potential vote.
“I don’t anticipate the county doing privatization anytime soon,” Chavez said in reference to the supermajority threshold.
Following a conversation between Chavez and the county’s administrative office, county supervisors are tentatively scheduled to hold an informational presentation on the county’s efforts to privatize the library at their meeting that day.
Chavez told Fresnoland that he was at a private town hall meeting at the SEIU 521 union hall in east Fresno where he shared the news with union members and others who have worked at or used the local library before. There were about 50 people at the meeting, he said.
The supervisor said there was “a genuine sense of fear” among those attending, as they realized the reality of the decision on the library’s future could be coming soon.
J. Butterfield, who has worked with the Fresno County Library for 19 years, was among the dozens of people at the meeting. She told Fresnoland on Friday that on top of fear, there was an energizing frustration among the residents.
“I think people got pretty mad and they’re fired up,” Butterfield told Fresnoland. Butterfield added that she expects good turnout from residents at the county meeting, whenever it occurs, and that others are already brainstorming plans to convey their opposition to library privatization.
SEIU 521 did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
No details have been finalized and it remains unclear exactly when — or even if — the supervisors might put the issue to a vote.
As Fresno County continues to work behind the scenes to better understand what the privatization of their library system could look like, the political reality of its board members illustrates how difficult it would be to approve such a policy in the first place.
Chavez shared at the town hall that proponents of privatization still have “a very tough hill to climb” to get their way.
A spokesperson for Supervisor Brian Pacheco, a Democrat who is running for state assembly, told Fresnoland on Friday that he is “not in favor of privatizing the libraries, period.”
The county’s gloomy future financial outlook means the board could be inclined to at least entertain discussions on privatization at some point.
In 2023, the county received an outlined plan from the company Library Systems & Services, arguing that their stewardship of the library could save Fresno $7-9 million annually through a 10-year commitment period. The county is having similar conversations now with the same company, Chavez said.
Bredefeld, who is the board chair and initiated the county’s privatization talks earlier this year, told Fresnoland on Friday that he hopes a presentation from the county administrative office can provide updated information on what potential cost savings could look like.
However, he said his mind is not made up on how he would vote on the issue.
“I’m waiting for a report to tell us whether, financially, (privatization) makes sense, and what services could be provided, and if they could be provided in a better fashion than is provided now,” Bredefeld said. “I’m not committed to anything simply because I asked for a report and an analysis of what it would mean to privatize the library.”
Bredefeld has expressed dissatisfaction with how the library has operated in the past. He told Fresnoland that he’s been “very clear” that he disagrees with what he believes is the library “allowing some political agendas to come into the library.”
“I don’t have any preconceived ideas about a vote to change how we provide library services,” Bredefeld added.
Bredefeld was endorsed by SEIU 2015, an ally to SEIU 521, who represents library workers, in his 2024 bid for supervisor.
In June, Supervisor Buddy Mendes told Fresnoland “there are no sacred cows,” when asked about his support for library privatization.
And as the board is set to gain two new supervisors in 2027 – Margaret Mims, to replace Mendes, along with either Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi or Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco to replace Brian Pacheco, the politics of the board on this may shift yet again.
Library management has become more of a political football in recent years, in Fresno County and beyond.
Voters in the southern California City of Huntington Beach — a predominantly Republican city with an equally conservative county board and state government representation — voted for a pair of ballot measures in a 2025 special election that dissolved a book review committee and rejected library privatization.
“Wrap your mind around that,” Chavez said.
Locally, a swell of groups and residents have begun to organize and voice their opposition to privatization online and at county meetings after Fresnoland broke the news about the county’s study in June.
Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig, a Republican who is also running for state senate, told Fresnoland on Friday that he’s undecided on how the county should pursue library privatization, and will wait to see what the county administrative office’s presentation says before coming to a decision.
Magsig added that he’d like to see the library “continue to provide free access to the public for information.”
“I’m one when it comes to just access to knowledge, books and those types of things,” Magsig said, “I think the ability to have free access for the public to information is paramount. And so making sure that no member from the community is cut out of the process is very important to me. So again, I’m just going to be listening to what the CAO is going to be presenting to us and we’ll go from there.”
The Fresno County Friends of the Library did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Discussions on privatization come at a time when talks are beginning to renew the tax that funds much of the library’s operations.
Measure B, a near-30-year one-eighth of a cent sales tax, is up for renewal in 2028. Voters overwhelmingly approved the renewal of the tax in 2012.
The majority of the county’s electorate supporting Measure B, Chavez said, “should send a strong, clear message that our community had a lot of buy-in in the library system. A lot of commitment toward making sure that our libraries are funded, and I think we should honor that as elected officials.”
The library’s Central Library location in downtown Fresno is undergoing remodeling to upgrade facilities, and new libraries are under construction in Clovis and Reedley.
Correction: A previous version of this story said that SEIU 521 endorsed Supervisor Garry Bredefeld’s bid based on a list on their website. It was SEIU 2015 that endorsed Bredefeld, not SEIU 521. We regret the error.
