Schools

School Board Chides Parkland Library VP on Voter Referendum

Parkland School Board members wants a relationship with the Parkland Community Library Board, but also wants a capital spending plan spelled out in any voter referendum.

Written by Tom De Martini

Two Parkland School Board members became irritated when Parkland Community Library vice president Barry Cohen stepped to the microphone Tuesday night.

Cohen said library officials would submit a resolution at the school board's Aug. 27 meeting to recommend a November voter referendum to raise taxes in order to build a new library at Grange Road in Upper Macungie.

By state law, any new tax levy must be handled by a body with the authority to do so, which in this case is the Parkland School Board. 

Library directors say, based on the current finance plan, the millage rate presented for the referendum amounts to 0.2978 mills—$29.78 per year for every $100,000 of assessed value—and would replace the current special library tax collected by the Parkland School District.

In June, a judge ruled with the school board, which lowered the library tax to 0.1 mills from 0.3 mills, due to the Lehigh County re-assessment.

That fact still has some school board members riled, even though they say they'd like to rebuild a good relationship with the library board.

"We want to establish a collegial relationship, even though (the library board) brought a frivolous lawsuit that this district incurred a cost to defend," said board member David Kennedy.

Kennedy said he'd like to see capital cost of the projected $13 million library spelled out and that the the library board shouldn't be able to amass $30 million to $40 million from any new levies.

"I'm not voting on anything we get five minutes before we vote," Kennedy said.

School director Robert Cohen said that while he supports the library 100%, he would like to see transparency in any resolution.

"There need to be two components. One is the operating cost of the library and the other is the capital needs of the library," he said. 

The Parkland Library Board of Directors is scheduled to meet Thursday night and report its progress on a potential resolution back to the school board and administrators.

Superintendent of Schools Richard Sniscak told Barry Cohen that the library board shouldn't waste time.

"I want to see this by Friday," Sniscak said.

"It's challenging, but we'll work it," Cohen said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from South Whitehall