E. Liverpool man sues over project

LISBON -- An East Liverpool man wants to stop that city's school improvement project and correct what he contends are improper taxes to pay for it.
Gary D. Bonnell filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court against the East Liverpool and Ohio boards of education, the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission, the district's supervisory commission, and East Liverpool Superintendent Douglas T. Hiscox and Treasurer Daniel J. Telzrow.
Voters approved a $7.9 million bond issue for school improvements in 2002. The state is to provide an additional $51.9 million toward the cost.
The lawsuit says the district failed to properly plan for the district's occupancy rate to drop to 67 percent by 2008. The rate is now 63 percent for all elementary students, and will still be 63 percent in 2008 under the proposed changes, the suit continues.
The lawsuit also says the school board failed to properly notify the county auditor that the bonds have no interest. As a result, Bonnell says, taxpayers will have overpaid the bond issue by $312,000 by the end of this year.