Sycamore Taxpayer

21 Responses to “Area Levies”

1. Administrator says:

   February 9, 2012 at 3:36 pm

   Lockland schools to debate levy

   To vote Thursday on whether to place a 7.95 mill continuous operating levy on the Aug. 7th ballot. It would generate $525,000, a year for the 632-student district. With an annual budget of $7.1 million.
   The Enquirer 2/87/12 B3

   Expenditure per student Lockland $12,520; Mason $10,125; state avg 10,571
   Constant deficit spending depletes cash balance.
   Planned health care benefits will increase 18% in fy13; 8%fy14; 5% fy15; 8% fy16.
   No base salary increase or step increase factored into salary costs for fy12, fy13, and fy14.
   Average teacher salary $49,929 fy11
   Students per teacher 16 fy11
2. Administrator says:

   October 25, 2011 at 10:17 am

   CPS move seeks greater levy transparency
   10:09 PM, Oct. 24, 2011 |
   Written by
   Jessica L. Brown
   http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20111024/NEWS0102/111024029/
   CORRYVILLE – Cincinnati Public Schools Monday unanimously voted to create a separate fund with quarterly reports to account for revenue from its upcoming levy – if it passes.
   . The move was an effort by the district to provide more transparency in how the levy money will be spent, a concern among some voters.
   . While the motion didn’t give a detailed budget for the $50 million in annual levy revenue, it did promise to account for every penny – something that pleased some taxpayers.
   . “This is certainly consistent with what happens in the private sector and shows good accountability and good government,” said Sean McGrory of Hyde Park, who spoke at the meeting in support of the motion. He’s an accountant and chief financial officer of a real estate office, he said.
   . The board also outlined five broad purposes for the levy:
   • School/classroom learning to be globally competitive.
   • Expansion of high-demand programs.
   • Schools and teacher accountability.
   • Maintenance and facility improvement.
   • College and career ready students.
   . The motion notes that the district will measure success by tracking how the levy money impacts:
   • The adoption of new Common Core curriculum standards (new curriculum adopted by 44 states including Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana)
   • Closing the achievement gap and digital divide (the lag in achievement and access to technology among low income or minority students) -widening program opportunities (such as magnet and other specialty programs)
   . Board member Vanessa White said she thought the motion was too vague. She thinks the public wants more specifics, such as a commitment to technological upgrades in a set amount of schools by a certain year.
   . Board member Catherine Ingram said she’d hope the board would fulfill those goals like closing the achievement gap anyway, regardless whether a levy passes.
   . The district of 33,000 students is seeking a new 7.95-mill permanent improvement levy Nov. 8 to pay for technology upgrades, building maintenance and specific renovations to three buildings that house magnet school programs – Hyde Park and William H. Taft elementaries and James N. Gamble Montessori high school.
   . It will cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $243 a year in property taxes.
3. Administrator says:

   October 23, 2011 at 4:07 pm

   Expand tax view
   … Here is a suggestion that I think will be rather helpful to Enquirer readers as they contemplate their vote on property tax levies: Could you please highlight the additional tax due in context of the complete tax bill? Instead of just saying a particular levy is “a couple of Starbucks coffees a year” or “the owner of a $100,000 house will only pay an additional $10 per year,” could you show a chart like the one we receive on our tax bill that itemizes all of the taxes that we are paying via property taxes? Seeing the potential additional tax(es) in context of the hundreds/thousands of dollars already paid will certainly lead to more informed fiscal decisions from the voters. I assume when you make important budget decisions in your department at The Enquirer you take a similar macro view. — John Tepe College Hill
   Source: LETTERS THE ENQUIRER 10/23/11 F2
4. Administrator says:

   August 10, 2011 at 7:43 am

   . Cincinnati Board of Education member Eileen Cooper Reed said, “I don’t have the answers. I don’t know any other options. Our responsibility is to make sure the system runs.”
   . Earlier this year, many more districts – almost half in the region – were actively discussing getting on the Nov. 8 ballot.
   . But some districts won teacher contract reductions, made sweeping budget cuts and received state funding slightly more than anticipated, and school boards decided to skip or delay levy requests.
   . Districts that decide to bypass the fall ballot include Princeton, Forest Hills, Batavia and Mason.
   . Princeton Schools Superintendent Gary Pack said its decision wasn’t based on concern a crowed ballot but rather the desire for time to have a dialogue about what residents want from the schools.
   . Princeton officials also wanted time to digest the effects of the district’s recent spending cuts – including the elimination of some 150 jobs.
   . Lakota has worked diligently to reduce current expenditures by cutting millions from our budget,” she (Joan Powell, president of the Lakota school district) said. “But expenditures reductions alone cannot solve this situation long term. We have been in a position of declining revenues available for each student since 2006. With this levy we are allowing the community to make choices about the future direction of the Lakota school system.”
   . “If a (Cincinnati Public School) revenue source isn’t acquired before March of next year, the district will face massive layoffs of administrators and in April massive layoffs of staff,” said Treasurer Jonathan Boyd.
   . Source: excerpts of 11 levies on ballot; others delaying By Michael D. Clark and Denise Smith-Amos The Enquirer 8/10/11 A1
5. Administrator says:

   August 5, 2011 at 7:52 am

   Only 26% (six of 23) school tax levies were approved around the state 8/2/2011. Only 14% were approved in August 2007.
   Source: Tough year for school tax plans. The Ohio School Boards Association. Published in The Enquirer, 8/5/11 C1
6. Administrator says:

   July 28, 2011 at 10:29 am

   . The Forest Hills Local School District will not place an operating levy request on the November ballot.
   . “We’re asking taxpayers to pay more money in May” than they would in November, he (board member Neumann) said. Treasurer Toepfer said a November 2011 levy would require a 3.5-mill request, while a May 2012 levy request would require a 4.5-mill request.
   . Board president Smith said the district should be financially secure until 2013.
   . Toepfer said the district will have a positive balance until fiscal year 2012-2013.
   . Smith said the district made budget cuts in anticipation of a reduction in state funding. “We are not in as much trouble as some school districts,” he said..
   . Source: Excerpts of Forest Hills schools will wait on operating levy By Forrest Sellers The Enquirer 7/27/11 B6
7. Administrator says:

   July 25, 2011 at 7:11 pm

   . Hold on to Your Wallet: School “Levymania” Getting Geared Up
   Posted on July 18, 2011 by Greg R. Lawson

   . Ohioans across the state better get ready to clasp their wallet a little tighter in the months ahead. As this piece from the Columbus Dispatch shows, school districts are definitely going to be putting levies on the ballot in a big way this Fall.

   . “Groveport Madison board members decided last night to send four levy options to the Franklin County auditor; Dublin schools administrators presented the school board with a combined levy-bond issue on Monday.

   . Other local districts have been considering similar plans. Hilliard school-board members are trying to determine the size of that district’s tax request, and the Westerville school board is studying options for a possible fall election, including an emergency levy or an earned-income tax.

   . Districts have until Aug. 10 to place tax requests on the November ballot.”

   . That’s just the beginning here in Central Ohio and certainly around the state.

   . Now many of the districts will be howling very loudly that the reason they have to go to the ballot is the recently passed budget. What many may neglect to mention is that they were probably already projecting large scale, multi-million dollar deficits over the next five years BEFORE Governor Kasich ever took office.

   . These charts pulled together by the Buckeye Institute show that there is an aggregate deficit for schools around the state north of $7 billion and, just to re-emphasize, this was before the current budget was even introduced, much less passed.

   . Further, these projections are based on each district’s own numbers which were submitted to the Ohio Department of Education. They are simply staggering.

   . Before you pull the lever at the ballot this Fall for more taxes for your schools, you might want to ask why these deficits exist and ask that they not just try to blame the Governor. You might want to ask why over 90 percent of the costs are in personnel. You might want to ask why they aren’t dealing with those costs.

   . After all, as the Buckeye Institute shows in the charts, a 10 percent reduction in compensation that is then indexed to inflation would cut a great deal of costs BEFORE going to taxpayers. Could it be that collective bargaining and its associated costs and constraints have fed this beast?

   . By the way, for taxpayers in Dublin, Hilliard and Westerville should also be quite concerned. According to this graphic, their property values have declined 5.5, 5.6 and 7.1 percent respectively. This means, pay more with less and do it to keep paying for compensation packages.www

   . Bottom line- “Levymania” will soon be upon us all. Its time to ask the hard questions and not just let the blame game go on for yet another cycle.
8. Administrator says:

   July 25, 2011 at 7:00 am

   First, the government already takes too much money from the pockets of Americans in taxes. Second, if Americans give the government more money in taxes, the government will just find ways to spend it, rather than using it to pay off the public debt. Third, raising taxes reduces investment, which cuts economic growth and kills jobs.
9. Administrator says:

   July 20, 2011 at 10:51 am

   Batavia officials are considering a tax increase to build up the fund reserve and avoid operating at a deficit. Enriquez said the district is projecting a deficit by 2014 if revenues do not increase. Officials have cut $1.5 million for the 2011-12 school year. “Without the cuts, we would be in debt next year.”
   Source: Batavia ‘living on the edge’ of deficit By John Seney The Enquirer 7/19/11
   .
   ….. In the past seven years, the Northwest district has cut $12.6 million from its budget.
   Source: Northwest puts three choices on table By Jennie Key The Enquirer 7/19/11 B3
10. Administrator says:

    July 12, 2011 at 12:14 pm

    . Lakota opts for smaller tax increase. 4.75-mill request a little over half size of failed 2010 levy. By Michael D. Clark Source: The Enquirer 7/12/11 B3
    . Lakota interim superintendent Ron Spurlock echoed the concerns for local family finances. “Families are hurting, and times are tough. I think this (smaller tax) is what the community has asked for and demanded,” said Spurlock.
    . Unlike some other are districts, though, for the first time in Lakota’s 54-year history there was organized opposition to new taxes during each of last year’s two, unsuccessful levy campaign.
    . Primarily driving opposition was NoLakota, an anti-school tax group led by resident Rich Hoffman, who said his group is ready to battle this latest hike.
    . Hoffman said that despite Lakota’s officials’ renegotiation of its teachers’ union contract, which now stipulates a multi-year freeze on almost all typed of salaries, he wants to see deeper cuts in labor costs funded by operating tax levies.
    . “The education bubble is bursting, and the costs of education must meet those costs and not be artificially propped up to fulfill the high expectations of union labor. Until those real costs are pursued, I and many others will continue to fight a school levy at Lakota,” said Hoffman.
11. Administrator says:

    July 8, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Excerpts:
    . Regardless of the tax size, it became clear during Thursday’s board work session that the third tax issue in a little more than a year is headed for the Nov. 8 ballot.
    . An operating tax helps pay for daily operations of the 18,300-student district, including salaries and benefits.
    . Lakota is among the nearly half of Southwest Ohio’s 49 school systems that are considering or planning to put a tax issue on the Nov. 8 ballot.
    . Despite cutting $10.2 million in personnel and programs for the upcoming school year, Lakota faces a budget shortfall of $14.6 million by 2015 and requires more local tax revenue to remain solvent for the five-year projection required by the state for all public school districts, said Lakota officials.
    . Jenni Logan, (Lakota) treasurer told the board that “we are still in a spending deficit,” even with recent and extensive budget cuts.
    . Board President Joan Powell said “deficit spending is an untenable position.”
    . Laurei Clark, of West Chester Township, said one of her two children will lose bus service when classes start in August. “I’m worried that without a levy there will be bigger classrooms and we’ll see more teachers go. This is such a great school district, and I want to keep the quality as high as it has been,” said Clark.
    . But Rick Hoffman, spokesman for anti-school tax group “NoLakota,” said the board needs to look at further cuts rather than residents’ wallets. He said Ohio’s SB5 law, which curtails public school workers’ powers of collective bargaining, is in place and should be used to further reduce Lakota’s expenses.
    . “SB 5 became law (and) school boards now have a tool to deal with the budget shortfalls in the coming years,” said Hoffman. “Yet they don’t think in terms of cost reduction by way of “wages and benefits renegotiated with Senate Bill 5, only cost expansion.”
    Source: New levy likely for Lakota; cost in air By Michael Clark The Enquirer 7/8/11 C3
12. Administrator says:

    July 8, 2011 at 11:22 am

    Excerpts:
    . Boyd said a November levy is needed for the district to stay in the black after June 2012.
    . Board members Parker and White said they need more information before making a decision.
    . …recently cut 200 jobs to balance the district’s 2011-12 general fund budget of $458.6 million. But because of state funding cuts and rising expenses, the district will face a deficit next June unless it passes a levy in November or drastically cut expenses, Boyd said.
    . Without a levy, the budget gap could grow to about $153million by 2012, said Boyd – and that’s assuming voters opt to renew levies that are expiring in the coming years.
    . There will be steep deficit in future years without increases in revenue or layoff or both,”
    . None of board members opposed the levy last Wednesday. But several stressed that for a levy to have any chance of success, the district would have to excel at explaining to voters why the money is needed.
    . The MAIN REASON, Boyd said, is because the district is getting less funding from the state.
    . Source: CPS board to decide soon on levy try. By Jessica Brown The Enquirer 7/7/11 C3
13. Administrator says:

    July 8, 2011 at 11:00 am

    …the school district which recently cut $10.2 million from its 2011-12 operating budget, must decide soon if it wants to place a levy on the Nov. 8 ballot.
    …As mandated by state election laws, the board must begin the official process of publicly choosing a levy type and amount by mid-July – getting certification from the county auditor for the tax issue — and filing that issue for the November ballot by Aug. 10.
    Source: At Lakota meeting, levy on board’s mind By Adam Kiefaber The Enquirer 7/7/11 C3
14. Administrator says:

    May 29, 2011 at 10:15 am

    The Madeira Board of Education voted May 16, 2011 to put a 6.9-mill operating levy on the November ballot.
    .
    The levy, if passed, would cost homeowners $210 per $100,000 in property valuation.
    .
    The school district could face $650,000 in cuts in fiscal year 2012 from House Bill 1553, the state budget from Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Kramer said the bill also mandates an increase in employee contributions to health care from 10 percent to 12 percent and decrease employer contributions from 14 percent to 12 percent.
    .
    The last levy passed in Madeira was a 9.4-mill levy in 2006 and was supposed to sustain the school district for three years.
    .
    Source: Schools to ask for levy money in fall
    –Amanda Hopkins, Community Press, 5/28/11
15. Administrator says:

    April 8, 2011 at 11:56 am

    The district (Lebanon) has the lowest average per-pupil expenditure of any district in Warren County and is among the bottom 13 percent in Ohio while earning the state’s highest academic rating of Excellent with Distinction.

    Rick McPherson, a Lebanon school parent and member of the Lebanon Tea Party… contends the district should gave demanded pay cuts in a recently negotiated teachers’ contract and that top district officials are over paid.

    Superintendent Mark North said, the new tax ‘is crucial to sustain one of the lowest student expenditures in the state and not destroy what we have left to provide our students.’

    Source: Lebanon schools seek to avoid neighbor’s fate. By Michael D. Clark. The Enquirer, April 8, 2011 C2
16. Administrator says:

    April 6, 2011 at 7:39 am

    The Loveland school board unanimously approved a one-year teacher contract extension that freezes salaries and “step” increases until June 30, 2013.
    The extension, which teachers already voted to ratify, comes even though the existing contract doesn’t expire until June 30, 012. School officials and teachers were motivated to extend the contract because of changes in Senate Bill 5, which would limit public unions’ bargaining powers and eliminate step raise increases and other protections based on seniority.
    The teachers’ contract extension means Loveland saves more than $500,000 a year and it buys time so the district can create a merit-pay plan, he (Superintendent John Marschhausen) said.
    “This allows us time to develop a value-added pay scale,” Marschhausen said. “It allows some flexibility … in developing a fair pay scale.”
    The extension retains the current contract language dictating layoff procedures, evaluations and employee benefits packages.
    There are no promises that layoffs won’t happen. Marschhausen said, the extended contract time, teachers know that they’ll be in a last-in, first-out pattern.
    Union officials said the extension was an attempt to help the Loveland schools reduce costs.
    Loveland serves 4,700 students, employs about 279 teachers.
    He district has a 3.5-mill levy ballot that is projected to generate $2.7 million a year in annual revenues, making up for an expected loss of about $2.8 million from federal, state and other funds.
    The levy would cost the owner of a $100,00 home an additional $107 per year.
    If voters reject the levy, the board has already voted to ….
    “We believe ….. “, said Sean Thompson, a high school teacher and president of the Loveland Education Association.
    Source: Loveland extends teacher contract. Deal, already approved by union, freezes salaries until 2013.
    By Denise Smith Amos, The Enquirer, Wednesday, April 6, 2011 C3
17. Administrator says:

    March 19, 2011 at 8:16 am

    Lakota school board will soon be deciding on elimination of all junior high sports next year … to offset a projected $4 million budget shortfall.

    Parent S… objected…but officials …contend they have few options. In the last two years the district has cut $13 million in personnel and programs and officials maintain they must keep classroom instruction the first priority.

    Laura Kursman, spokesman for Lakota, said levy loses combined with years of lagging state funding have forced officials to cut the budget pie and “sports is one piece of the pie.”

    Source: Michael D. Clark. Parents fight possible sports cuts. The Enquirer 3/18/11

    Admin. says: Notice there is No Mention of Reducing the Exorbitant Compensation Level -wages and benefits.
18. Administrator says:

    March 12, 2011 at 9:20 am

    Batavia schools plan $1.5 million in cuts

    Batavia schools officials are planning to cut $1.5 million from the budget.
    .
    The proposed cuts, which must be approved by the school board at the March 21 meeting, include eliminating 14 to 18 emlpoyees. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the high school.
    .
    The cuts willl be be made for 2011-12 even if a 6.9-mill operating levy passes May 3, Superintendent Jilll Grubb said.
    .
    The proposed staff cuts include laying off seven to nine certified teachers for a savings of $396,207 and seven to nine non-teaching employees for a savings of $195,577.
    .
    Grubb said the cuts were needed because revenue has not kept up with expenses. The district has operated at a deficit for the past three years, and the district’s reserve fund has been depleted.
    .
    Both the cuts and passage of the levy are needed to build up the reserve fund, she said.
    . To review the proposed cuts, visit the didstrict’s website, http://www.bataviaschools.org
    Source: John Seney THE ENQUIRER 3/12/11 C7
19. Administrator says:

    February 7, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    Some school districts that had planned to put a tax measure on the May ballot got cold feet days before deadline, thanks to uncertainty over state funding and increased voter pressure.
    .
    Mason City Schools last week became the latest district to put the brakes on ballot plans. Lakota, Lockland, Forest Hills, North College Hills and Maderia also recently decided to forgo this election.
    .
    “Levies are no longer slam dunks,” said Roger Effron, who connives/consults with/for school districts in the Cincinnati region.
    Source: Enquirer, Denise Smith Amos, C1 Feb. 7, 2011
    .
    Currrent WAGES and BENEFITS are EXORBINATE (Higher than Private Sector)!!!
20. Administrator says:

    February 7, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    1.Little Miami School’s 16.95-mill Feb. 2/10 operating levy was soundly defeated 55% against 45% for. If approved, it would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $519 a year. Another levy will be on the May, 2010 ballot. Superintendent Bennet said the loss should be a warning to other school systems, more than a dozen of which are planning to seek their own tax increases later this year.
    3.Forest Hills Skips Levy Attempt. Belt tightening might be enough to delay the levy as long as possible. From December 2008 to July 2009, more than $26.5 million was reduced from estimated expenditures for the fiscal years 2009-10 through 2012-13. Enquirer January 15, 2010.
21. Administrator says:

    February 3, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    RESIDENT QUESTIONS LEGALITY OF TAX HIKE
    By Forrest Sellers, Northeast Suburban Life. January 27, 2010
    IH resident Fred Sanborn said a recent millage move by the IH school district is illegal. The move is not legally justified.
    Sanborn referred to a section of Ohio’s Revised Code which states, “no tax rate shall be levied above that necessary to produce the revenue needed by the taxing district or political subdivision for the ensuing fiscal year … unless such rate of taxation for the ensuing fiscal year is clearly required.”
    Sanborn said, “(There) is no way this district is running out of money,” citing the district’s reserve fund.
    The district is expected to have $24 million in the cash reserve fund by June of next year,
    “Why didn’t (the district) dig into the reserve instead of passing the inside millage,” said resident Jim Troppman.
    Board members gave these reasons: “the district has a proactive financial planning approach”; It has always been a prudent logical effort to have a reserve fund”; With our projections, we could burn through our reserve fund in a short period of time”; Board members also said these decisions are being made to try and avoid exhausting funds and putting an operating levy on the ballot.