Final report: Library tax proposal defeated
Joseph P. SmithBRIDGETON – Final voting results show a Nov. 6 ballot question on whether to increase a special local property tax for the Vineland Public Library was defeated 7,632 “no” votes to 7,509 “yes” votes.
The Cumberland County Clerk’s Office posted the final results late Monday night. The final count includes 307 “provisional” ballots.
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The ballot question was binding, so passage would have meant an increase in the library tax in 2019. The library Board of Trustees meets Thursday afternoon, its first since the election.
The provisional ballots slightly increased the margin of defeat. Initial unofficial results last week showed the question defeated by 7,466 to 7,353, or 113 votes. The final margin is 123 votes.
The question to voters was whether to support a tax rate increase from 3.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 5 cents per $100. The increase would have raised another $686,767 for the library, which is money meant to offset a loss of city funding.
According to the Clerk’s Office, 698 provisional ballots were collected across the county but 77 were rejected for flaws. Of those numbers, 342 provisional ballots were cast in Vineland and 35 were rejected, leaving 307 Vineland votes to count.
In addition, any mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within 48 hours of the close of polls had to be counted.
Election results from General Election 2018, including a statement of vote district breakdown, are available here: https://ccclerknj.com/election-information/election-results.
Joseph P. Smith; jpsmith_dj; (856) 563-5252; jsmith@gannettnj.com
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