Dear county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich,

I am concerned about the city of Santa Clarita's plans to take over our local public county libraries.

When we moved here in the early 1960s, I discovered a charge for libraries on our property tax bill. This prompted me to find out about the Newhall Library.

Back then, Highway 14 was only a gleam in the engineers' eyes and Valencia was mostly carrots and onions. But I packed up the kids, and off we went down the winding two-lane Soledad Canyon Road to find the small, but adequate, library in Newhall.

Times have changed. Now we have grand county libraries, even here in Canyon Country, and a city that wants to commandeer them.

My taxes have been helping to pay for the county libraries for almost 50 years. What will happen if the city takes them over?

Will I, as a non-resident, have to pay a fee to use libraries I've been paying for all these years?

Also, I wonder if such a transfer of property should involve the Local Agency Formation Commission?

In any case, I hope you will help to thwart this takeover unless non-residents' rights are fully protected.