Pike library referendum questioned

By TOM KANE

MILFORD, PA — Not all is boding well for the Pike County Library referendum.

One strong voice against it was raised at the September 9 meeting of the Pike County commissioners.

“I resent being taxed for a library that I will never use,” said Green Township businessman Gordon Olsommer. “And the majority of the residents of the county will also never use it.”

Olsommer said that he speaks for the majority of Green Township residents, giving as evidence the unanimous rejection of the idea by attendees at a recent township meeting.

Residents of Green Township, which is located in the far reaches of southwestern Pike County, are well served by the numerous libraries in Newfoundland, Monroe County and the Salem Township library in Wayne County, each of them a few miles away, he said.

The Pike County Commissioners, which also functions as the county Board of Elections, moved last week that a referendum be placed on the November ballot after they received a petition signed by about 1,300 residents requesting it.

The referendum asks voters to approve a tax of one mill to be levied on all residents to maintain the library. The library is in the midst of a building project of a new building, which will be constructed in Milford.

One mill would mean that about $35 be assessed for the average county property. It would raise nearly $1 million each year, according to county officials.

“Libraries are community entities, not county entities,” Olsommer said.

“The county contributes around $200,000 to the library now, and that would continue if the referendum was turned down,” said Rich Caridi, chairman of the commissioners.

“We could have just dedicated one mill to the project ourselves,” said commissioner Karl Wagner. “Or we could have put up the referendum ourselves, but since they got the required number of signatures, we are required by law to put the question to voters.”

Olsommer suggested that Green Township or any township could opt out of the referendum if they so wished.

Ellen Schaffner, the director of the library, who was present at the meeting, said, “Our funding has gone down drastically. State money has gone down. We don’t have enough money to keep our programs going while the library is being used now more than ever before due to the poor economy. If the state imposes a 55 percent cut, as some are suggesting, it would close us down.”

Schaffner said that the library authority is planning to build two more satellite libraries in the west and south of the county. “If the referendum passes, we will give the $200,000 back to the county,” she said.

The elections will be held on Tuesday, November 3.