Santa Clara County ballot Measure B was expected to continue and in fact increase funding provided by a 1994 measure. But the measure only received 60.7 percent approval, falling short of the two-thirds vote it needed to pass.

Measure B would have raised the current parcel tax from $33.66 per year for single family homes to $42 per year, for seven years.

County librarian Melinda Cervantes said the library Joint Powers Authority will meet at the end of March to discuss policy changes, but indicates that cuts to hours and material purchases seem inevitable at the Saratoga Library.

"In all likelihood, there will be at least one full day a week that the library will be closed, and possibly two," she said. "I'm sure the library users are going to be terribly disappointed."

Saratoga community librarian Dolly Barnes said that when the original Measure A funding runs out in June 2005, the county library system will receive a 21 percent cut in funding—a drop she called "pretty devastating." She said the prospect of reducing hours and services is especially frustrating so soon after the renovation project.

"With this new facility, we have the ability to do a lot more," Barnes said. "When people are very excited about this library, cutting hours is painful."

Library commissioner Pragati Grover said she was surprised to learn that the measure did not receive more support.

"I was really disappointed that it did not pass," she said. "I can't comprehend why."

Barnes said the complexity of the measure contributed to its failure to pass.

"The two-thirds vote is just so difficult to get," she said. "It's certainly not that people don't support libraries—I think the whole funding of the library is a confusing issue for people."

Since the measure was intended to maintain funds already in place, Barnes said people may not have thought an increase was necessary since Measure A's funding currently provides adequate service, but that they will notice a drop now that the funding has been cut again.

According to Cervantes, a new measure cannot be drafted for 12 months. Several months of legislation and public hearings added to that would keep the issue of library funding from a ballot until June 2005 at the earliest.

In the meantime, Barnes said Saratoga librarians would be trying to find ways to provide quality service with reduced funding.

"We're certainly going to be looking at every avenue," she said.