Unserved areas say 'No' to joining library district

An initiative to annex land to the Gail Borden Public Library District has failed, according to unofficial results from Tuesday's election.

A majority of voters in unserved areas in Plato and Campton townships, on the western edge of the district, answered "No" to the referendum question on Tuesday's ballot.

The unserved areas include an estimated 870 households east of Route 47, generally north of Burlington Road and south of Plank Road, mostly in Elgin and Plato Township.

For the question to be approved, a majority of voters in the unserved areas, along with a majority of voters in the library district, had to answer "Yes."

Library district voters in Cook and Kane counties overwhelmingly approved the question by about 70 percent, but without assent from the unserved areas, there will be no annexation, said Suzanne Fahnestock, director of elections for Kane County.

"In the target area, the unserved area, the question failed pretty much in every precinct. So it didn't pass," she said. "That's where it stands. Our numbers are still unofficial."

Fahnestock said in Plato Township Precinct 1 there were 195 "Yes votes" and 562 "No" votes; Plato Township Precinct 2 had 358 "Yes votes" and 654 "No votes;" Campton Township Precinct 2 had 11 "Yes votes" and 60 "No votes;" Campton Township Precinct 4 had 2 "Yes votes" and 12 "No votes." No votes were cast in Campton Township Precinct 5, she said.

There are still 2,704 outstanding absentee ballots, Fahnestock said. Kane County has to wait 14 days until Nov. 18 to receive additional ballots before certifying the election's results, she said.

However, there are not enough absentee ballots from the unserved precincts to make up the difference between the "Yes" and "No" votes in each precinct, according to numbers provided by Fahnestock.

Provisional ballots are still being counted, but there are only 27 of those, she said.

Denise Raleigh, the library's division chief of public relations and development, said the library won't put the question back on the ballot unless there is a "groundswell" of support from the unserved areas.

"We asked the question, we provided people the information and the materials, and they did their decision," she said. "We are disappointed that it did not pass ... but we're happy to make new connections (in the community)."

Residents in the unserved areas can join the library district on their own by purchasing "contract cards," the cost of which is equal to the property taxes they would pay into the district, Raleigh said.

For a house with an assessed value of $150,000, library taxes are estimated at about $240 annually.