WEATHERSFIELD School levy set for a vote in Nov.

The board will try a fourth time to get the levy passed.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield Board of Education voted in a special session Monday to place a 5.5-mill five-year emergency levy on the Nov. 2 ballot.
The levy amount is the same the board sought last Tuesday in a special election that was defeated. It will be the district's fourth attempt for voter approval of additional millage since 2003 to avert a projected deficit in the 2005 fiscal year.
At a special meeting Thursday, the board planned to put the levy back on the November ballot, but instead discussed the possibilities of other solutions to resolve the district's financial dilemma.
Schools Superintendent Michael Hanshaw said after the meeting the board had a work session and then went into executive session on personnel for more than an hour before adjourning a brief special meeting to vote to put the levy back on the ballot.
Same millage, same amount
He said the county auditor already has informed the district the same millage will produce the same amount as the August request if the levy is approved.
The issue will generate $538,168 a year.
If the measure is approved, it will go into effect this year and collections will begin in 2005.
The district is under state fiscal watch and projects a carryover balance of $338,721 in fiscal year 2005 and a negative balance of $101,790 in 2006.
That deficit is expected to grow to $1.03 million by 2007, school officials said.