Voters Say ‘Nay’ To Stone Harbor Bond Ordinance

STONE HARBOR— A referendum election for a bond ordinance appropriating millions of dollars for various improvements in the borough overturned the proposal June 26.
Of the 819 registered voters, 497 turned out to vote.
Two hundred and fifty two voters chose yes for Referendum Bond Ordinance-1275 and 294 chose no.
The ordinance was approved by council March 20, and on April 9, Borough Clerk Suzanne Stanford received a petition objecting to the ordinance. State law required the mat-ter be sent to referendum at the next general election unless the governing body called for a special election. On April 17, council resolved to take action for a special election.
The months leading to the election reportedly resulted in brochures being passed around with plans and details for a new 82nd Street community center to be funded in part by the bond ordinance.
Council said it had no connection to the brochure at a meeting June 19.
“This is hardly a community effort,” said Stone Harbor resident Joselyn Rich before coun-cil at the same meeting.
“There is a great deal of misinformation,” said Anne Wannen, council member and chair of beach and recreation.
In 2005, upgrading the 82nd St. Recreation Building was listed as one of the capital im-provement projects scheduled along with repairs to the public works building, firehouse, museum, marina, tennis courts and bike path.
“The misunderstanding was that there were no pure numbers. That is not the case for any of the capital projects we do,” Mayor Suzanne Walters told the Herald.
“There was a misunderstanding we were rushing through this. This is the regular process for these projects.”
Council committee chairs have already been instructed to take another look at their capital budgets.
Council president Barry Mastrangelo told the Herald, “We expect a new bond within the next few weeks with soft costs.”
Contact Gillin-Schwartz at (609) 886-8600 Ext 24 or at: mschwartz@cmcherald.com.