WEATHERSFIELD SCHOOLS Board tables resolution involving levy

A previous try for an income tax failed.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- Weathersfield Local Board of Education tabled a resolution to put a five-year emergency levy on the Nov. 4 ballot, which would generate $919,360 a year.
The measure tabled Wednesday also asked the county auditor to certify the exact millage for the measure, which has been estimated by local school officials at 9.5 mills.
The deadline to file to place an issue on the ballot is Aug. 21. Superintendent Rocco Adduci told the board if they want to revise the resolution, it could be prepared for the July 23 meeting.
Board members expressed their own uncertainty that there is enough support in the community to pass the levy. A previous levy request failed in May for a 1-percent income tax to raise $860,000 annually.
The board's decision to table the levy resolution came after an executive session to discuss details of a new one-year contract with teachers, who have taken a wage freeze for the contract year that runs July 16, 2003, to July 15, 2004.
Teachers helped savings
Teachers agreed to a one-year wage freeze in October 2002, which will save the district $170,270, and switched to a preferred-provider option health insurance from a traditional plan, which saves the district $86,000 a year. Nonteaching employees also made the switch, Treasurer Angela Lewis said.
Board members listened as resident and zoning commission chairman Fred McCandless asked the board to consider seeking a 5-mill levy. He told the board that of all the community residents he has spoken to, "I don't have the sense that they will support 9.5 mills."
Deborah Maust, board president, told McCandless, "To put on half of what we need would mean cuts for students will be severe."
She added the board was giving the community the chance to avoid planned cuts if the levy fails "if they want to."
Fiscal situation
The district is under a Department of Education Fiscal Caution, after it lost $621,000 in October 2002 in personal property tax from RMI Titanium, and projected it would lose $1.2 million in tax dollars from the company in the new fiscal year.
Cuts that had already been approved by the board if a 9.5-mill levy failed would save $723,804 for the 2004-2005 school year.
While $300,000 in cuts have already been made to help cover the loss of the income, other planned cuts involve some busing, enacting an activity fee and trimming staff.