Miamisburg schools seeking levy renewal

Passing issue to raise $7.2 million a year, won’t increase taxes.

Approval of an 8.3-mill substitute levy this fall would generate about $7.2 million without increasing taxes, district officials say.

Voters in the Miamisburg school district can expect in November to decide whether to renew a fiveyear operating levy.

The board of education recently filed with the Montgomery County Board of Elections to place an 8.3-mill substitute levy on the fall ballot.

Approval of the measure would not increase taxes, school district officials said, and would generate about $7.2 million a year. That’s nearly 13% of overall operating revenues and 12.4% of the overall operating budget for the district that also includes most of Miami Twp. and parts of German Twp.

Passage of the levy would continue to cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $290.50 a year, Miamisburg Treasurer Tina Hageman said.

She said “most homeowners should not see an increase of any kind even if they saw an overall increase in their property values.”

The levy is one of two tax issues the district uses to fund general operations, making it “imperative that this renewal pass in order to maintain current services,” according to Miamisburg Superintendent David Vail.

“We will be collecting no additional money than has previously been collected from this levy,” Vail said.

The second levy is an 8.65-mill, five-year emergency renewal levy approved by nearly 66 percent of voters two years ago, board of elections records show.

It costs the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $265 a year, according to the county auditor’s office, while generating about $6.77 million annually.

Both tax issues fund operating expenses, such as salaries, benefits, utilities, classroom materials and other district costs, officials said. Capital improvements — such as new roofs and buses — are paid for through the district’s permanent improvement, Vail said.

The levy up for renewal this year does not expire until the end of 2020, according to Hageman. November is the first opportunity for it to be on the ballot, and passage would guarantee a “seamless transition” financially, she said.

Both levies have received voter approval since 2012. That year 57 percent of voters favored the levy. It was backed by about 65 percent of voters two years ago.

In 2014, about 54 percent of the voters supported the tax issue that is up for renewal this year, board of elections records show.

Records show about 53 percent of the school district’s general fund budget comes from real estate taxes.