COLUMBIANA School board discusses vote on income tax

Board members know residents are still very much divided in their support of the district.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- As they continue to lavish praise on a community that approved a 1 percent income tax Tuesday, school officials realize their public relations efforts have only begun.
The board met in special session Wednesday primarily to discuss the outcome of Tuesday's election.
Voters approved the tax issue to benefit the school district by 97 votes.
Board member Robert Rubicky noted that while some 1,500 people voted for the tax issue, some 1,400 voted against it.
"We still have something to prove to those 1,400 voters," Rubicky said. "Our students just have to keep doing the work they're doing. They've already proven their worth."
Superintendent Patricia Hura said officials will continue trying to find ways to reach out to the community.
The district's "Walk Warm" program allows adults to walk the halls of the high school for exercise. She said administrators are also talking about opening the computer labs to the public in the evenings, particularly to give senior citizens basic instruction.
Getting to heart of problem
School board President Stephen Cranmer said the board and administrators want to know why the community support of the schools is divided. He said they want to know more about why residents vote against tax issues, beyond the obvious reason that they just don't want to vote for new taxes.
Cranmer said without the help of the many volunteers, including students, the discussion at Wednesday's board meeting would have been very different. The board would have been faced with a nearly $1 million deficit in 2003 and planning cuts in staffing and services for the 2003-04 school year.
"So many people did so many extraordinary things," Cranmer said. "I'd like to thank each of them, but there's at least 150 people who helped get this income tax passed."
By passing the income tax, voters put the burden on school officials "to be prudent and wise stewards of people's money."
Because the schools will have the revenue from the income tax, the school board voted at its meeting Wednesday to repeal a 6-mill emergency levy that would have been collected in 2003.
Treasurer Lori Posey said that reduction, coupled with the expiration of a 1.6-mill permanent improvement levy, means the owner of a $100,000 home will see a nearly $300 reduction in property taxes in 2003.
Percentage reduction
Posey said overall, district residents in Columbiana County will see a 17 percent reduction in property taxes while those in Mahoning County will see slightly less, about 13 percent, she said.
Posey has said the 1 percent income tax will generate about $1.2 million annually and cover the shortfall that will occur because of the loss of the 1.6-mill permanent improvement levy -- about $123,000 annually.
She said the income tax revenue will also replace the revenue generated by the emergency levy, about $870,000 annually.