Schools could get $1M for tornadoes

Two state lawmakers are pushing to earmark $1-million in state funds for Miami Valley school districts that lost tax revenue because of Memorial Day tornado damage.

State Reps. J. Todd Smith, R-Germantown, and Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., introduced House Bill 480 to put $1 million into an emergency fund to replace lost tax revenues for K-12 schools.

“We hope this will just be a temporary loss until people get their homes and businesses rebuilt,” said Plummer.

Smith and Plummer plan to discuss the bill at a press conference this week.

According to the Montgomery County Auditor’s office, 18 school districts lost a combined $1.25 million in property tax revenues attributed to tornado damage — and diminished value — to residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial properties. The Trotwood-Madison School District took the single largest hit to its property tax revenues: $320,280.

Townships, cities and other local jurisdictions in Montgomery County lost another $500,000 in tax revenues due to the tornado damages, the auditor’s office said.

A record 15 tornadoes hit southwest Ohio on Memorial Day, including four that damaged Montgomery County. The most destructive, rated an EF4 by the National Weather Service, tore a swath from Brookville to Riverside.

In all, the Memorial Day twisters affected more than 4,400 parcels of property in Montgomery County — destroying or inflicting major damage to 915 — according to data assembled by the auditor’s office.

The loss for Trotwood-Madison wasn’t surprising, said Janice Allen, the district’s treasurer.

The district will review its budget in February to see where it can be tightened, Allen said. The district received about $6.9 million from property taxes this fiscal year. The bulk of the district’s $45.6 million budget flows through the state.

Dayton Public Schools stands to be $248,000 short and revenue for Northridge Local Schools will be down $121,000. The tornado damage also cost Brookville, Northmont, Vandalia and Mad River schools tens of thousands of dollars each.