BEAVER LOCAL Voters to decide on levy in May

The board is considering a bond issue for the May 2003 ballot.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Heating system and roof repairs, new buses and computers are some of the items Beaver local school officials could purchase with permanent-improvement levy funds.
Superintendent Willard Adkins said voters will see a new five-year, 1.5-mill permanent-improvement levy on the May 7 primary ballot.
He said the levy would generate $287,000 per year and cost the owner of a $50,000 home about $23 per year.
Adkins said the district has not had a permanent-improvement levy in effect since 1995 when the previous one expired. The board has paid for bus maintenance, building repairs and textbooks from the general fund and money received from open enrollment.
What's behind this: Roof and heating system repairs are on the horizon and the district needs new computers, he said. With such pressing needs, the board believes general fund and open-enrollment money is no longer sufficient.
Adkins said the board could opt to use some permanent-improvement revenue to purchase land.
He said the board had considered a bond issue for the November ballot, but delayed those plans because permanent-improvement money is needed now. He said the board did not want to place two levies before voters in the same year.
Adkins said the board would only purchase land if district voters passed a bond issue.
State help: He said the district has qualified through September 2003 to receive funding from the Ohio School Facilities Commission for school construction and renovation.
He said the state would fund 61 percent of the construction cost with 39 percent coming from local funds.
Adkins said although the state figures the district's share of such projects based on property values, which are increasing, the current figures are guaranteed through 2003.
The board would hope to pass a bond issue to generate the local share, he said.
Buildings: The district has a high school and middle school on state Route 7 in Madison Township and elementary buildings at West Point, Rogers and Calcutta.
Plans would likely include consolidating the three elementaries since only Calcutta has an enrollment of at least 350 pupils, needed to qualify for state funding for renovation, he said.
He said the board could opt to build a new elementary and renovate the high school and middle school building, or build a new high school and renovate the high school and middle school to house middle school and elementary pupils, respectively.