Ross Board Quashes Talk of Placing a Library Referendum on Ballot

Ross Township's board of commissioners voted 6-2 Monday to end all talk of a library referendum. No votes in favor or support of the referendum were cast. 

"There won't be a referendum in the primary or the general election," board President Grant Montgomery said.

The move to quash the topic was made by Commissioner Gerald O'Brien, who said he never thought it was a good idea and didn't think the proposal to place the referendum on the ballot had enough support among the board members.

"We were grinding something that wasn't going to happen," he said. 

The ordinance to place the referendum on the ballot, introduced earlier this month by Commissioner Chris Eyster, proposed asking voters if they would approve an additional .22 mill tax in order to generate about $414,333 annually that would be earmarked for the Northland Public Library Authority. 

The township, along with McCandless, Franklin Park, Bradford Woods and Marshall, currently contributes an annual payment out of its general fund to the library's operating costs based on a proportional formula that factors in population, assessed property valuation and circulation, and usage of the library from each area. 

Total municipal contributions budgeted for 2012 are about $1.4 million of the overall $2.4 million budget, the same funding as in 2011 and 2010. 

Ross Township's portion of the library's funding is about 29 percent of the total municipality contributions and about 17 percent of the library's overall budget.

During budget talks last year, Eyster He said then that it was more imporant to have roads that were paved properly than a library in another municipality. 

Later, he said he thought taxes could be increased and more money raised for the township if continuing to fund the library was the issue at stake. 

After the vote Monday, he said he still believed it was a good move but said the proposal did have problems — among them that the tax would generate more revenue than required in the township's agreement with the library. 

Commissioners also raised the question of the timing of the proposal. New property reassessments are expected to begin hitting Ross Township shortly, and it's unknown what impact that would have on the township's budget. 

Commissioner Dan DeMarco, who along with Eyster voted against ending the discussion on whether to place the referendum on the ballot, said he wanted the issue resolved once and for all. 

as a possible item that can be sacrificed. 

"I just don't want to deal with this issue every year," he said. "I'm just getting a little bit tired of the discussion." 

Several residents of the township turned out Monday to speak on the proposal. 

Most of them said they were confused about what the referendum would accomplish.

Speaking before the vote, Bill Grady, of Kinvara Drive, said it seemed that the board was trying to fix something that wasn't broken — or that it was misleading the public about its ultimate goal.

"It appears to me it's not the library that is creating the problem," he said.

Afterward, David Winter, of Ninth Avenue, told the board he wanted to thank it for its decision.

"It created a lot of confusion among Ross Township residents," he said. "Congratulations on killing it. Next time do you homework, please."