Voters pass 5-year renewal levy for district operations

Vermilion Local Schools Superintendent Phil Pempin said while the district still would have had time to retry for passage of the renewal levy since it is set to commence in 2022, he was glad to see the issue pass Nov. 3.

Voters on

Lorain and

Erie county s ide s passed the renewal levy by a hefty margin.

Bo th sides were approved by similar margins, with Lorain County at 1,495 to 991 and Erie County at 3,440 to 1,944, according to unofficial final results from both Lorain County and Erie County Board of Elections offices.

The five-year, 8.95-mill levy will cost taxpayers in the district $274.09 per $100,000 in property valuation, which will not increase current taxes for the taxpayer, according to the Erie County Auditor’s Office.

With the levy estimated to add $4.5 million to the district budget, Pempin said it was important that it would pass at some point before the current levy expires.

“We were hoping the community would support it and see the good things we were doing,” he said.

Pempin said the passage of the levy shows local confidence in the district and its ability to manage funding and the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve tried our best to communicate as much as we can with the community, and I would hope that this had something to do with it (the passage of the levy),” he said.

Maintaining that trust involves keeping a highlevel of communication and showing the community it can continue to take curveballs the pandemic throws, Pempin said.

“I think we’ve shown to the community that we can do those things, and do them relatively quickly,” he said.

PEMPIN