What’s on the ballot?

PRINCETON — Bureau County voters will have two countywide referendums to vote on when they go to the polls in November.

Friday was the final day for referendum information to be turned into her office in time for placement on the November ballot, Bureau County Clerk Kami Hieronymus said.

The Bureau County Board has submitted both countywide referendums for the November ballot, Hieronymus said. One referendum will deal with getting money to build a new jail. The other referendum will ask voters how the county should get a county coroner.

Specifically, the jail referendum will ask voters whether the county of Bureau should issue general obligation bonds in the maximum amount of $15 million for the purpose of constructing a new jail. The referendum will also ask voters to levy an additional maximum tax rate of 27.5 cents for every $100 of equalized assessed value of taxable property for the next 20 years to pay off the principal and interest of those bonds.

Bureau County Board member Rick Wilkin and the county’s jail consultant Dennis Kimme have prepared informational fact sheets dealing with the jail issue, including the various costs and why the county should build a new jail at this time. Fact sheets are available in the Bureau County Clerk’s office and the Bureau County Circuit Clerk’s office in the courthouse in Princeton, as well as from county board members.

In November, Bureau County voters will also decide whether the county coroner should be elected or appointed. That referendum will read: “Shall the coroner of Bureau County become an elected office chosen by the voters for a four-year term commencing in 2012 and every four years thereafter? Currently the Bureau County Coroner is appointed by the Bureau County Board.”

In the only other local referendum on the November ballot, Tiskilwa voters will decide whether to issue $1,810,000 in general obligation bonds for the purpose of renovating the current Tiskilwa Public Library or erecting a new one.

The existing library, located at 119 E. Main St., was built in 1908 and is not handicapped accessible nor does it provide enough space for current library materials and services, the library board has stated. Costs are basically the same to either build an addition to the existing library or to build a new free-standing library.