CHAMPION Schools seek levy renewal

Champion schools expect to lose $610,000 per year now that CSC Ltd. has filed for Chapter 11.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- School officials are not yet asking voters for an additional tax levy, despite losing about $300,000 since CSC Ltd. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.
Township voters in the May primary, however, will be asked to renew a 5-year, 1.5-mill levy to raise $123,574 a year for renovations, remodeling and equipment.
Superintendent Pamela Hood said revenues from the renewal cannot be used for salaries or operations, only for capital improvements, which could include paving, replacing doors, adding on to buildings and repairs of sidewalks, boilers and roofs.
Hood said the district has no current plans to ask voters for an additional tax levy.
"We're going to try and manage with the budgets we have now," she said.
CSC woes: CSC is looking for a buyer and has a skeleton crew working at the plant where steel production ceased a few weeks ago. It is the largest taxpayer entity in the school district.
The school district expects to lose $610,000 a year because of CSC's financial plight.
Hood said Champion schools will lose out on $530,000 in personal property taxes and about $80,000 in real estate taxes.
"That's a huge hit for the district to take," she said.
Seeking legislation: Instead of asking voters for more money, district officials have sought help from state representatives Daniel J. Sferra of Warren, D-66th, and Kenneth A. Carano of Austintown, D-65th.
District Treasurer Brian Gillespie said Sferra and Carano have been asked to sponsor legislation to change the way the state calculates per-pupil funding, which is based on the district's taxable wealth.
Instead of waiting three years to recalculate the amount the district will receive in subsidies from the Ohio Department of Education, Hood said, Ohio lawmakers should consider recalculating funding for districts at the time a large corporation like CSC files for bankruptcy.
Even if the renewal passes in May, Hood said the small amount of money it generates is not enough for upkeep of buildings and grounds, as the district usually chips in $100,000 a year from its $12 million general fund budget for capital improvements.
The levy has been renewed every time since it first passed in 1976, she noted.
"Voters have been very supportive of the district," she said. "We need every dollar we're getting now from the renewal. Now is not the time for voters to take that away."