FUNDING, BUILDINGS TOP SCHOOL NEEDS
Seven local districts have levies in front of voters March 17.
Seven local school districts have levies on the March 17 ballot, with voters in Troy, Bellbrook and Valley View school districts being asked to increase their taxes after having rejected earlier requests.
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools are seeking a 5.7-mill tax increase that would pay for day-to-day operating costs and the school district administra t ion has spelled out a series of budget cuts that will take place if the levy is rejected.
Troy Schools are asking voters for a 7.04-mill bond/levy to replace elementary school buildings with four new buildings.
Valley View Schools’ levy would raise funds for both day-to-day costs and facilities. It includes a 5.5-mill bond issue to construct a new school campus and a 0.5% income tax increase to address budget shortfalls. District officials have also prepared a plan for staff and program cuts if the levy is rejected.
“What we’ve put on the ballot is a comprehensive plan,” Valley View Superintendent Ben Richards said. “We purposely did that so we wouldn’t have to go back to our voters and nickel-and-dime them on a regular basis.”
Levy requests in Beavercreek and Cedar Cliff school districts are over substitute levies that would keep existing taxpayers’ rates the same, but allow the schools to gain money when there’s new construction in the future. Superintendents in both districts say their hope is to reduce how often they ask voters for new levies.
Lebanon and Vandalia-Butler schools’ levies are simple renewals, which extend current taxes at the same rates for 3 and 10 more years, respectively.
New buildings in Troy
Troy’s elementary school buildings are on average 77 years old and most lack air conditioning. Concord and Van Cleve buildings are more than 100 years old. The district hopes to replace seven aging schools with four new elementaries spread around the community.
The district is asking voters to approve a pair of 37-year levies with one vote — a 6.54-mill bond issue to construct the buildings and a 0.5-mill levy to pay for ongoing care of the new schools. The combined cost is projected at about $248 per year for a $100,000 home. Treasurer Jeff Price said the actual cost could be lower, depending on ongoing property revaluations and interest rate changes.
The total cost of the project is listed at $98.7 million, with the state covering $31.8 million, according to the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. Superintendent Chris Piper said he thinks voters are more in favor of this “neighborhood schools” plan after rejecting a different bond plan two years ago.
“We would consolidate services and we would be more efficient moving from seven buildings to four,” Piper said. “It’s energy efficiency, it’s transportation, it’s food service, it’s staffing changes through attrition, not (layoffs).”
There is a community meeting about the bond/ levy scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Kyle Elementary.
The district has budget concerns beyond just the buildings. Troy’s five-year forecast projects that its fund balance would go negative in summer 2022. The state called for a corrective action plan, and Piper said improvements in health care costs and application of the state’s new “student success” funding will address the concern.
“We are hopeful that our increased efficiency in these new buildings will allow us to operate within our current budget. But I think we have some work to do with that,” Piper said. “We need to make sure we’re operating as efficiently as possible in the short term.”
Daily expenses in Bellbrook
The Bellbrook school levy is a new 5.7-mill tax that would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an extra $199.50 per year. Residents rejected a replacement levy last year that would have cost $211 per $100,000.
Bellbrook’s 2019 and 2020 levy campaigns have been combative. Supporters and opponents created multiple real and parody Facebook pages, sometimes with crude posts mocking the other side.
A mailer to the community from prominent levy opponent John Stafford included incorrect data about tax rates, wrongly attributed to the county auditor. One man was cited by Sugarcreek Twp. police for disorderly conduct stemming from an altercation with Stafford at the Jan. 30 school board meeting. That case is pending.
Stafford and other levy opponents want lower taxes and have said the school district should cut teacher pay and benefits.
Stafford said in January that a school audit which found Bellbrook teacher pay to be below that of other nearby districts in four of five levels was not justification for asking for more funds.
“What the audit does is use surrounding districts — you take someone else’s bad decision and use it to justify your own bad decision on pay,” Stafford said.
Bellbrook schools Superintendent Doug Cozad and school board President David Carpenter said that the district has approved more than $2 million in budget cuts and now needs more revenue.
“You look around at your local peers and say, if we’re going to compete for talent to teach in our schools, we need to be competitive with what’s available in the market,” Carpenter said. “If you want to send all of your good teachers away, cut the pay.”
State officials have recommended a variety of cuts because the district projects it will run out of money in four years even if next month’s levy passes. Cozad said all school staff have agreed to a pay freeze for next school year. School officials said additional cuts totaling $2.46 million over two years will occur if the levy doesn’t pass.
Those cuts would include significant busing reductions, canceling some art, STEM and keyboarding classes, laying off three teachers and four bus drivers, increasing pay-to-play fees to $300 per sport and cutting the stipends for 85 assistant coaches and club advisers.
‘Comprehensive’ levy in Valley View
Valley View residents will cast a single vote to approve or reject a two-part tax levy.
A 37-year, 5.5-mill bond issue would help build a new
Valley View campus adjacent to and incorporating the current high school. It would replace schools that in some cases are more than 90 years old. The state would pay $29.68 million and the district would pay $28.35 million, counting local options. Voters rejected other building levies in 2016 and 2017 and rejected an operating levy last May.
The 37-year, 0.5 percent income tax increase piece would pay for daily operating costs in a district that projects it will run out of operating money in the 2022-23 school year.
The bond would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $192.50 per year. The income tax increase would cost $250 per year on a $50,000 income or $500 on a $100,000 income.
Superintendent Ben Richards said both the operating money and facility updates are needed.
“We’ve got significant barriers to learning that are caused by our facilities,” Richards said. “We’re one of the few districts around that doesn’t have air-conditioned buildings, and there’s no ADA accessibility in three of our four buildings. We keep robbing Peter to pay Paul in our district and at some point we have to stop that. So we’re taking a comprehensive approach.”
Some residents concerned about the district’s financial approach created the ValleyViewInfo.com web page, which opposes the levy. They argue the 37-year investment is an irresponsible decision that the next generation will regret, and suggest the district take structural steps to balance its operating budget before any building work.
The district has made some budget cuts over the past year-plus, and they told residents that if this levy is rejected, more significant cuts will occur.
That proposed list includes elimination of elementary school music, art and gym classes, elimination of all district clubs, junior high sports and school dances, increase of high school pay-to-play to $400 a sport, reduction of special education and secretarial staff and more.
Substitutes in Creek, Cedarville
■ Beavercreek: Voters are being asked to turn an existing emergency levy last approved in 2015 into a permanent substitute levy. Emergency levies produce a fixed dollar amount of tax revenue year after year. Substitute levies keep the millage rate the same, but allow schools’ revenue to grow as new homes are built and those new owners also begin paying that tax rate.
If passed, Beavercreek’s 9.85-mill levy would again generate $18.5 million for school operations in its first year, but that total would likely grow in future years as new construction occurs.
Existing residents’ tax rates would stay the same for this levy, continuing to pay $301 per year per $100,000 of appraised home value, according to the Greene County Auditor’s Office.
Beavercreek voters converted a different 6-mill emergency school levy into a substitute in 2017, passing it on the second try. Superintendent Paul Otten said three years later, that levy is already generating an extra $300,000 per year from new construction.
“If not one more house or building is built, that 2017 levy would still convert to $1.5 million (extra) over a fiveyear span,” Otten said. “That additional money hopefully keeps us from going back to the voters as often.”
Beavercreek schools will host an open forum about the levy at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Main Elementary School.
■ Cedar Cliff: Cedarville school voters also will decide on a substitute levy — a 2.6-mill measure that would become permanent and would continue to cost $79.63 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home.
Superintendent Chad Mason said out of appreciation for the community’s support of a building bond 11 years ago, the district hasn’t asked for a tax increase since, and hopes not to for years to come if this one is passed.
“The idea was let’s make (the levy) continuing because we’ve needed it for 15 years,” Mason said. “You combine that with the idea that if we get more growth, this vehicle would allow us to maybe see some additional revenue without putting on a whole new levy again.”
Renewals in Lebanon, Vandalia
■ Lebanon’s levy is a 4.1-mill tax for day-to-day school operations. It passed in 2005, has been renewed every three years and is up for renewal again at the same rate. The levy provides $4.2 million of the district’s $57 million annual budget.
- Vandalia-Butler’s levy is a 7.03-mill tax for school operations. It has been approved by voters five times, and the district is asking to renew it for 10 years rather than five this time, but at the same tax rate. The levy provides $4.4 million of the district’s $38 million annual budget.