Levy 'not a windfall,' official says to board

NILES -- While passage of a 10-year replacement levy was essential to the Trumbull County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, it was "no windfall," the superintendent told board members Monday night.
"Everyone is happy," Superintendent Douglas A. Burkhardt said of the levy approval, especially its 65 percent approval rating. "But I want to make sure when we come back to the board two years from now, people understand: We averted a disaster. It was not a windfall."
Burkhardt reiterated to the board at its regular monthly meeting that if the levy had failed, 113 of his employees would have been laid off. "We would have been at least $2.5 million in the hole without the money," he said.
The MRDD board, which runs the Fairhaven school and workshops, won approval of the 2.25-mill, replacement levy by a substantial 19,580 votes.
The levy will provide funding for maintenance and operation of facilities and replaces levies of 1.9 mills and 0.35 mills to raise $7,787,175 annually.
Burkhardt said the approval will allow students in the program to continue to receive services.
The superintendent said after the meeting he expects to come back to voters with another levy request -- either another replacement or a new levy in a couple of years. But the first order of business will be to negotiate a contract with workers that will demonstrate to voters that MRDD is able to use its funds responsibly. Burkhardt said the union contract runs out in 2007.