LOCAL

Library funding question going on ballot

Joseph P. Smith
The Daily Journal

VINELAND – The November ballot will offer residents here a chance to weigh in on how much funding to provide the city library.

The Cumberland County Clerk's Office on Wednesday will take delivery of a referendum question proposing an increase in the city's dedicated library tax. As of this year, that special tax is the library's sole funding source as it faces a large budget gap.

The issue before voters will be whether to support a tax rate increase from 3.3 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation to 5 cents per $100. That increase would bring in another $687,767 per year for the library, which for 2018 will collect about $1.375 million from taxation.

City Clerk Keith Petrosky, who plans to deliver the referendum question himself, on Monday announced that organizers had submitted enough valid petition signatures to qualify the issue for the ballot. The petitions were submitted last week to his office for review. The drive was launched in July.

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On Tuesday night, the City Council followed up on Petrosky's certification with a unanimous vote to allow the clerk to turn over the question to the county clerk for processing. Aug. 17 is the deadline for submission of ballot questions, he noted.

Brandi Grosso, the library director, and Victor Druziako, president of the library Board of Trustees, both attended the City Council meeting. Grosso spoke during the public comment period, thanking volunteers and businesses that helped in the petition drive.

Council President Paul Spinelli congratulated petition organizers and wished them good luck with the November voting. There were no other comments from the council.

Petrosky said more than 3,800 signatures were collected in the drive. Many signatures were disqualified over such eligibility issues as the signer not being a city resident or not being a registered voter.

Those kinds of disqualifications are typical with petition drives, he noted.

However, the clerk said the threshold of 1,784 signatures was reached. The review process was stopped at that point, he said.

For 2018, the library has an estimated budget deficit of $513,826. The city has refused to provide money to balance the library budget for this year.

Joseph P. Smith; jpsmith_dj; (856) 563-5252; jsmith@gannettnj.com

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