Round Lake area voters should expect Groundhog Day to be in their future with the same election question on their ballots after one official called for another library referendum or referendums. That was after voters soundly defeated a $36.4 million building bond question on the March 19 primary ballot.
Ann Richmond, president of the Round Lake Area Public Library District board of trustees, has decided she and her fellow elected officials know what’s best for the community. “We’re going to try again for a referendum,” she told Steve Sadin in a March 21 front-page News-Sun story.
It’s not like voters didn’t express their voices in the primary which saw a historically low turnout, which should have favored the side which wanted to expand the library. The referendum failed by a vote of 830 (53.8%) to 711 (46.1%), according to unofficial results from the Lake County Clerk’s Office.
Perhaps it was the low turnout that gives hope to Richmond and others on the library board that if they return with another referendum in the Nov. 5 general election or in next spring’s municipal election, they will have better luck. For referendum marketers, this is the tactic of placing continuing questions on the ballot until they get the results they want. School districts use this part of the referendum playbook with effectiveness.
District officials wanted voters to approve that expensive bond issue to replace the current library with a brand new one on an undeveloped site quite close to the current building, between Hart Road, Railroad Avenue and Cedar Lake Road in Round Lake. A new library, officials said, would increase programs, add more resources and provide new services.
Officials commissioned two space needs assessments in 2012 and 2023. According to the assessments, the district needs a library twice the size of the current building.
Putting an optimistic spin on the referendum loss, Richmond noted: “It does show a lot of people like the library.” Who doesn’t enjoy libraries and all they offer?
From central meeting sites for community groups, along with books, videos, audiobooks, educational programs and computer usage, libraries are indispensable learning centers in the 21st century. However, district voters weren’t deciding if they like or dislike the library.
They were voting if they wanted to be taxed further to support the construction of a larger facility with a 20-year building bond. “No thanks,” the majority decided, echoing the cry of Illinois property owners who pay the second-largest tax rate in the nation. In Lake County, we pay some of the highest property taxes in the state.
Approving the referendum would have meant a higher tax burden for Round Lake area homeowners with an increase of $345.84 a year on tax bills for houses valued at $228,200. That figure is the median fair market home value in the Avon Township area, according to the library district’s data.
The library question was the lone of four referendums on the primary ballot which was defeated. In the nearby eight-school Grayslake Consolidated School District 46, voters approved increasing the property tax levy to more than $38 million by a vote of 1,700 (52.8%) to 1,533 (47.4%).
With a larger property tax rate, District 46 voters will see a slight decrease in their tax bills because long-term debt will be paid off. District officials were successful in selling that idea to voters because, according to one study, more than 40 % of school referendums fail. At least the first time around.
Richmond and her fellow trustees believe they know what’s best for taxpayers in the Round Lake area. They maintain the library is too small at 28,000 square feet.
A sizeable majority decided they are quite happy with the current library. And the district’s tax rate.
The defeat came though there wasn’t a definite opposition group countering the proposal spelled out distinctly by supporters of the new library. District officials decided to place the question before voters during a primary election which normally has a lower turnout.
The general election this fall with the presidential contest leading the ballot certainly will bring out more voters. That is not what supporters of tax-hike or building bond referendums normally want.
From Richmond’s comments, looks like Round Lake area voters can look forward to the district pushing a referendum for a new library year after year until officials eventually get the answer they desire.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor. sellenews@gmail.com. X @sellenews
