Ross Board Moves One Step Closer to Placing Library Referendum on Ballot

Ross Township residents might get a chance to vote in April about whether or not they would be willing to pay an extra $22 in taxes per $100,000 in assessed property value each year in order to continue funding the Northland Public Library. 

The township's Board of Commissioners officially introduced the ordinance Monday that, if approved, would allow the question to be placed on the ballot during the April 24 general primary. 

The ordinance proposes asking voters to approve an additional .22 mill "library tax" in order to generate about $414,333 annually that would be earmarked for the Northland Public Library Authority. 

The township tax rate for 2012 is currently 3 mills. 

The board expects to vote on the proposal March 5. 

Commissioner Dan DeMarco said the referendum is being considered because every year the board debates whether it should withdraw from or revise an annual funding agreement signed with the library board that committs the township to paying about $400,000 each year toward the library's budget.

"Every year this issue comes up. It becomes frustrating," DeMarco said, adding that the voters can end the debate with the dedicated tax.

"If they don't, then the board has to make a decision: Are we going to continue to fund out of our general fund somewhere around that figure?" 

Ross, McCandless, Franklin Park and Bradford Woods formed the Northland Public Library in 1967 (Marshall joined in 1988), and it has been operating under its current funding agreement since 1993. 

Each municipality contributes to the library's operating costs each year based on a proportional formula that factors in population, assessed property valuation and circulation and usage of the library from each area. 

Ross has budgeted $404,346 for 2012, down from $426,321 in 2011. 

Total municipal contributions budgeted for 2012 are about $1.4 million of the overall $2.4 million budget, the same amount as 2011 and 2010. 

Ross Township's portion of the library's funding is about 29 percent of the total municipality contributions and about 17 percent of the library's overall budget.

Any amount that the proposed dedicated tax increase generates greater than the amount required through the agreement would be required to be sent to the library authority, Township Solicitor Bonnie Brimmeier said. 

Two residents commented on the ordinance Monday. 

"It's the wrong tax at the wrong time with the wrong name," said David Winter, who lives on Ninth Avenue. 

Winter said the question is coming at a time when the township might see an increase in taxes due to Allegheny County's reassements process.

Letters with the new assessmenst started being mailed out to county property owners earlier this year, starting in the city of Pittsburgh. North Hills property owners expect to receive theirs in the next few weeks. 

"We should wait for the reassessments," Winter said. "We're going to be increased pretty good. You don't know what the figure is going to be. Why not wait for that?" 

He said he also objected to calling the tax a "library tax." 

"It's all smoke and mirrors here," he said. 

Nick DiCicco, who spoke in support of the library earlier this month, continued to remind the commissioners that, one way or another, the library line item should not be sacrificed. 

"The library is for the future," he said. "It's an investment." 

Also Monday, the commissioners passed, 9-0, an ordinance increasing the amount of time township employees can be covered through COBRA, a temporary extension of health insurance benefits, from 18 months to three years.

The insured cover 100 percent of the costs of COBRA. 

"It won't cost the township anything more but might serve as a retirement incentive," Brimmeier said. 

The ordinance is unrelated to another health insurance proposal the board has discussed regarding the elimination of the health care benefits provided to the elected officials. 

Brimmeier is still finalizing that proposal, which came before the board last fall during a committee meeting and has been added to and then removed from the board's public agendas several times since then. She said Monday she did not know when it would be ready for the board's consideration. 

Also Monday, the board: 

* Approved, 9-0, the Glen Montessori School's conditional use request for the addition of a day-care facility for an infant-toddler program to be operated in its new school building at 950 Perry Highway.

The property is the former Perrysville Elementary School. Glen Montessori purchased the school from the North Hills School District in January.

* Approved, 9-0, the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church's request to place a temporary banner across McKnight Road, south of McIntyre Roadto advertise the Taste of Greece Festival, which will be May 25-27.

* Approved, 9-0, a proclamation declaring April 19 Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Commissioner Pete Ferraro and Board President Commissioner Grant Montgomery particpated in the meeting by phone.