Pike board of elections drops tax referendum in Delaware

Library sues county

By TOM KANE

MILFORD, PA — In a surprise move, the Pike County Board of Elections (BOE)—comprised of the three Pike County Commissioners—agreed with Delaware Township’s request to remove the library referendum from appearing on its ballot on November 3. The referendum, which would impose a one-mill library tax, will appear on all other township ballots.

In a counter surprise move, the Pike County Public Library (PCPL) board sued the county in the county’s Court of Common Pleas.

Two weeks ago, Delaware Township supervisor Ileana Hernandez petitioned the county to exclude the township from the tax because the township already had a legitimate library with a library board of directors.

The BOE has the same membership as the Pike County Commissioners.

“The PCPL is surprised and disappointed at the decision of the Pike County Board of Elections to deprive the citizens of Delaware Township of the right to vote on whether Pike County should have a dedicated library tax,” said a press release issued by the PCPL on October 14.

The PCPL holds that the decision is inconsistent with the opinion of the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and states further that there is no legal or factual basis for the Delaware Township not to vote on the question of a dedicated library tax, the release said.

“A number of Delaware residents were among the more than 2,000 citizens who petitioned the county commissioners to place the question of the tax on the November 3 ballot,” it said.

If the tax is approved by the rest of the voters, Delaware County residents will not have to pay the tax, but will be able to use the lbrary without paying a fee. The PCPL has more than 3,000 cardholders in Delaware Township.

“A copy of the legal position with which the General Counsel’s Office of the PA Office of Commonwealth Libraries, which has confirmed its agreement, is available on the library’s website at www.pcpl.org/everyonebenefits, or by visiting one of the library branches in Dingman, Lackawaxen or Milford,” the release said.

Rich Caridi, chairman of the Pike BOE and of the county commissioners, said the county would not disclose the contents of a letter, which was sent by solicitor Thomas Farley to the commissioners, on the subject of the community library that exists in Delaware now.

“This is proprietary information that will be used by us at any court case that may happen,” Caridi said. He said that the county had not yet been served any court papers on the issue.

The matter is scheduled to appear before a Monroe County judge on October 22. Two Pikce County judges have recused themselves from the case.

Stormy meeting with Taxpayers United

Two PCPL board members faced a hostile audience of members of a local taxpayers group at the Milford Borough office in Milford on October 14, during a town hall meeting on the topic of the library tax.

The members of the audience, which were, for the most part, well behaved, shouted out at times and had to be silenced by the moderator who conducted the debate between PCPL board members Tom Hoff and Rebecca Lindsey and Greene Township businessman Gordon Olsommer, who spoke against the tax.

Olsommer compared supporting a library to a businessman investing in cathode ray tubes— technology that is passé now that the new technology has far outstripped such an antiquated device. “The new computers, which people have now in their homes, will soon make libraries unnecessary,” Olsommer said.