SEBRING SCHOOLS Board will seek an emergency levy

Leaders of the school district's unions said they would support the tax levy.
By SUE DROTLEFF
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SEBRING -- Sebring Board of Education unanimously agreed to seek an emergency levy for operating expenses, the first such request that will be put to voters since 1990.
District Treasurer Pete Hill said the request to the Mahoning County auditor will ask for certification of the district's total current tax valuation and the number of mills needed to generate $305,000 annually over the levy's five-year life.
Hill said a mill of valuation for the district generates about $43,700, so he believes the overall millage needed will be in the 6.8- to 7-mill range.
The emergency levy, if passed, would generate the same amount of money each year, and, as property values increased, the millage needed would decrease, Hill explained.
An emergency levy can be passed to avoid an operating deficit, he added, which, according to projections, will be in 2005 without additional revenue.
Hill further explained that under the emergency levy, taxes for new construction are not allowed, but since those are abated by village council anyway, there would be no additional loss of revenue with the emergency measure.
Request from board
Last month, the board asked council to consider switching the tax abatement program for new construction from 15 years to seven as had been done before March 2001, but no action has been taken on that request, Hill said.
More information about the levy will be presented during public meetings after the first of the year, superintendent Howard Friend noted.
Support for the levy was publicly expressed by JoAnn Jones, Sebring Local Education Association president, who pledged cooperation and assistance from the teachers union.
Friend also read a letter of support from David Yaggi, president of Ohio Association of Public School Employees Chapter 563. OAPSE represents the district's classified employees.