WEATHERSFIELD Despite upcoming levy, schools must make cuts

The school board will meet in November to consider additional cuts.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- Rocco Adduci, Weathersfield schools superintendent, says the district will have to make yet another batch of cuts, even though it plans to place an operating levy on the May ballot.
Details of the sudden cash shortage in the district because of industrial tax reductions, primarily from RMI Titanium Co.; and the subsequent cost-cutting measures made by the district so far will be reviewed with residents at a town meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at the high school. A question and answer period will be held.
The superintendent and the board announced Oct. 16 that about $300,000 total will be cut from the budget this year and next school year.
Projected deficits
A deficit of $621,840 is expected this year, and a $1.2 million deficit is projected for next fiscal year because of the tax loss. The district has to meet a deadline of Feb. 21, 2003, to place an operating levy on the ballot.
Treasurer Angela Lewis is in the process of reviewing the five-year forecast on the status of district funds to help determine what millage will be asked for, Adduci said.
Adduci said that if the levy fails in May, it will go back on the ballot in August, and if that fails, it will go back on in November 2003.
The board of education will meet in executive session Nov. 13 to discuss other potential cuts it will have to make in the district. No action will be taken at that session, but the board will meet in regular session at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 in the high school library.
The district's tax loss comes mostly from RMI's reduction in the personal property tax payment for fiscal 2001.
Tax losses
Lewis said updated figures show the district expects to lose a total of $621,840 in personal property tax income from RMI and other industries in the township. The RMI tax reduction, at $579,214, is 93 percent of the loss, she said.
The district learned about the RMI taxes just before it was expecting to receive its personal property tax payment in October. The company cut its tax payment based on the recommendation of its new tax adviser. Because of a previous accounting error and a reduced inventory, the company says it owes less in taxes now. Adduci said school officials met Monday with RMI officials.
Adduci said that though the district is applying for a one-time $1.8 million grant available through the Ohio Department of Education for catastrophic emergencies, "we have to prove we will be solvent after we get it."
Adduci said more cuts will be necessary, coupled with passage of a levy.
The superintendent noted that teachers' contracts must be renewed by April 30 of each year, and any teachers whose contracts may not be renewed must be notified in April. Adduci said action will have to be taken at the April meeting, because the May levy may not pass.