A vote to place a referendum on the November general election ballot for Salisbury Township residents to decide on continuing to be taxed for use of the Allentown Public Library is expected to be on the agenda of the 7 p.m. Aug. 22 township meeting in the Municipal Building, 2900 S. Pike Avenue.

Township commissioners have debated the annual funding of the Allentown library for several years, and increasingly so this year, with commission Vice President Robert Martucci Jr. advocating a ballot question.

Township Manager Randy Soriano briefed commissioners during the workshop following the Aug. 8 township meeting, emphasizing that, if the measure is to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, commissioners would need to vote on it at the Aug. 22 meeting.

"The process is set forth by the [Pennsylvania] library code," Soriano said.

A request for a ballot referendum must be made 60 days prior to an election. The deadline is Sept. 1.

"It will be on the agenda Aug. 22," Soriano said.

Salisbury must petition the Lehigh County Board of Elections, to have a referendum placed on the ballot. The general election is Nov. 5.

The Lehigh County Board of Elections determines the wording of ballot referendums.

Salisbury Township Solicitor Atty. John W. Ashley has been reviewing the township library funding ballot question.

"So, we need to do this by resolution?" asked commissioners' President James Brown.

"John [Ashley] is checking on that. It's either a resolution or an ordinance," Soriano said.

If the measure is considered as an ordinance, it must be advertised, Soriano explained during the 15-miniute workshop discussion.

Salisbury annually contributes approximately $82,000 to the Allentown library. It is included in the annual budget and funded through the annual millage tax.

It is uncertain how many township residents use the services of the library, located at 12th and Hamilton, Allentown.

Dissatisfaction with the annual library funding has grown among commissioners following the closing of the South Side Branch of the library, located along Emmaus Avenue.

According to Soriano, library funding began in 1992 after the library board approached township and Salisbury School District officials.

A resolution for the funding was approved in June 1992 by township officials, Soriano said. For the first two years, Soriano said, funding was shared, paid equally by the township and school district.

A ballot question was approved and the township levied the tax.

According to Soriano, township officials asked school district officials to offset the funding. There were "numerous correspondences," Soriano said, from the township to the district.

"There's no indication that they [the school district] paid, but the township paid through the assigned tax," Soriano said.

The township is required to fund the library through June 2014.

If the library funding is placed on the Nov. 5 election ballot and if township residents reject the library tax, township funding of the Allentown Public Library would end as of the 2015 fiscal year.