Trending
HUBBARD -- Harding Park officials will hold off on creating a committee for now after discussions about funding campaign materials for a levy ahead of November's election concluded with one member offering to pay for signs.
Park Commissioner Mike Stiver said at Monday's special meeting that he spoke with Mark Finamore, the board's attorney, who said officials legally cannot fund signs using their general fund.
The signs would be in support of a 1.07-mill continuous levy on the ballot that would generate approximately $315,000 annually in the upcoming November election, which the park's commissioners approved for the ballot July 30.
The park's last levy, a 0.5-mill one, was in 1997, and it was when the park was separated from the library, according to Stiver in an early August interview.
"We would have to start another organization that would receive any donations, and that's what would pay for anything, as far as any advertisement or signage," Stiver said. "Or anything pertaining to voting for it."
Stiver said it would cost approximately $250 to establish such an organization, which also couldn't be pulled from the general fund. He also said the funds need to be tracked, which is why they would need to be passed out through an organization.
Finamore, who was called by Park Commissioner Tom Papa for clarity, said that if a person wanted to pay for signs on their own, it wouldn't be a problem, but that person would have to pay the vendor themselves.
"That way, you don't have to set up a committee, you don't have to have a bank account, you don't have to do any of that stuff," Finamore said.
Finamore said the board needs to steer clear of the pitfalls of the state's election commission's laws on campaign committee tax and people spending money in elections, for transparency purposes.
"If a person wants to, they can go up and they can buy them -- they have to have a disclaimer on them that says who paid for them," Finamore said.
Finamore said a board member can take the same action, as long as the "paid for by" portion of the sign is included.
"As long as you say that, then you will not have to file any election paperwork with the Board of Elections," Finamore said. "You're not a committee, you're not a candidate, you're just an individual person putting that out."
Papa said he wanted to pay for the signs himself, asking the others to just leave it be and pass him the bill.
Park Commissioner Bill Colletta said after the meeting that the board cannot run its own oversight committee, which explains the need for one.
"There needs to be an outside source for literature, signs and things like that, so that's what the oversight committee will be," Colletta said.
Colletta clarified that the committee does not exist, but if officials need to initiate one, they will discuss it at their next meeting.