Members of the Round Lake Library Board of Trustees will begin planning for another referendum after voters apparently rejected a $36.4 million ballot question to build a new building.
Voters in the Round Lake Library District rejected the referendum with 53.73% saying no and 46.27% voting yes out of 1,513 votes cast, according to unofficial results posted on the Lake County Clerk’s Office’s website.
“We’re going to try again for a referendum,” Ann Richmond, the president of the Round Library Board of Trustees, said. “I don’t know if it will be in the fall, or we’ll wait until next spring. It does show a lot of people like the library.”
The Round Lake Area Public Library referendum was one of four ballot questions decided by voters Tuesday in the 2024 primary election in Lake County, which produced a record low turnout for a presidential primary.
In Grayslake Consolidated School District 46, voters approved a referendum to increase the property tax levy from around $32 million to just over $38 million, with 52.41% saying yes and 47.49% rejecting the idea out of 3,169 total votes, according to the unofficial results.
Wadsworth voters decided to replace an appointed village clerk with an elected one as 78.87% of those casting ballots approved of the idea, and 21.13% disliked it out of 601 voters, according to the unofficial results.
Residents of Deer Park will continue to receive the benefits of an additional 0.5% home rule sales tax originally approved in 2021 as 83.01% of voters decided to keep the tax, and 16.89% did not with 624 people participating, according to the unofficial results.
Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said the countywide turnout of about 54,000 (11.56%) voters was the lowest in county history for a presidential year. He was pleased with the improved efficiency of the process, and a record number of election judges.
“Despite a lower turnout for a presidential primary, I am pleased with the progress of our modernization efforts that have resulted in a more efficient voting process,” Vega said in a text Tuesday night. “Lake County has continually reaffirmed its commitment to ballot access and we look forward to continuing that tradition for November.”
In the last two weeks, Vega said early voting slowed because the results of the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations became assured in early primaries, starting with Super Tuesday, March 5.
Within the two weeks before Tuesday, President Joseph Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee and former President Donald Trump did the same for the Republicans.
After the no vote, Richmond said the board will start to conceive of a way to present a question voters will approve and continue to use the existing 28,000-square-foot library, which it believes is too small for the community.
Residents in District 46 will not see a tax increase until 2025 when existing debt is retired with the approval of the referendum. Chris Wildman, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance, said in February the increase would be $30 per $100,000 of a home’s value.
Maureen Heum, one of the organizers of a group advocating for the approval of the referendum, said now the district can install an emergency response system, security cameras, replace roofs, improve or replace mechanical systems, make the buildings more accessible for individuals with disabilities, renovate library space for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) facilities and more.
“We knew folks understood the importance of supporting this referendum,” Heum said in a text Tuesday night. “It’s an investment not only in our schools but in our community.”
Deer Park Village Administrator Beth McAndrews said in February residents do not pay property taxes. The village receives most of its revenue from sales tax paid by non-residents shopping at the Deer Park Town Center shopping mall.
Mildred Corder, a Wadsworth resident who organized the petition drive to place the referendum on the ballot, said in February the clerk was once elected, but local officials changed the office to one chosen by government officials. Now the clerk will work for the residents and not the village president, she said.
The unofficial results do not include provisional ballots and late-arriving votes by mail results. Vega said the results will not be official until he certifies them on April 2.
