Gracedale Referendum Would Tie Lawmakers' Hands

Judge Stephen Baratta appears likely to approve a ballot referendum on delaying the sale of Gracedale on Tuesday, despite the fact that the referendum's language is in violation of Northampton County's charter.

 The charter couldn't be more clear about what type of ballot questions are allowed:

The power of initiative and referendum shall not extend to the budget or capital program, to the appropriation of money, to the levy of taxes, or to the salaries of elected officials, officers, or employees of the County.

If Gracedale can't be sold for 5 years, as the referendum language states, that plainly violates the "appropriation of money" clause. It's mandating that council spend money on, tying lawmakers' hands on major taxing and spending decisions. If Gracedale's costs increase, council will have no choice but to raise taxes or cut spending in other areas to close the gap.

Judge Baratta has admitted as much, but bizarrely maintains that "almost anything the voters care about is going to impact the budget."

Fair enough, but that's an argument for allowing very, very few issues to be , not for creating a new and unsupportable interpretation of the charter's language to allow some issues with budgetary consequences to be decided by popular vote.

It is also hard to understand why Judge Baratta thinks it would pose a problem that the budget "doesn't say anywhere that Gracedale is to be sold."

 Why should it matter that the Gracedale sale isn't mentioned in the 2011 budget?

Any referendum is necessarily about the . Whether a referendum locks an item into the budget or introduces a new one is immaterial. The point is that the charter says the power to decide what's in the 2012 budget should lie with Council members, not voters, and should be decided through the normal political process.

The appropriate way for voters to weigh in on the issue would have been to pass a referendum requesting that the issue be decided by the next Council after the elections. That would have given organizers time to run anti-sale candidates in the November elections.

Instead they chose language that directly impacts the budget by keeping Gracedale on the books, and indirectly impacts the budget by subordinating all other taxing and spending decisions over the next 5 years to whatever Gracedale's financial situation happens to look like.

Here's hoping Judge Baratta comes to his senses before Tuesday.