Library Board Votes to Postpone Public Referendum

At its March 22, 2005 meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Tompkins County Public Library announced that it was postponing the funding initiative it had considered placing on the Ithaca and Lansing School District ballots this May. According to Gary Woloszyn, President of the Board of Trustees, “We are postponing our funding initiative out of concern that the issues facing voters regarding ICSD redistricting and the two school budgets would overwhelm our efforts to advocate the merits of our initiative.”

The Board of Trustees had given their approval to the initiative at their February 22 meeting. Woloszyn explained that the Board felt that the political environment had changed significantly since then and would interfere with the library’s ability to demonstrate clearly to the voters the need for this initiative and its fairness.

The Board emphasized that it was postponing, not canceling its effort to put part of the Library’s budget before the voters. Library Director Janet Steiner said, “The overwhelming sentiment of the Board was that if we were going to go to the voters for support, we owed it to them to make our case clearly and persuasively. We will increase our efforts to communicate with voters and make our case. We believe that when people understand the Library’s need and the fairness of the initiative, they will support it. The voters should feel well informed and fully persuaded when they vote on our funding initiative.”