District needs levy to dig out of debt

School board members felt they couldn’t ask voters for more than 9.5 mills.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — City school officials say it would take the equivalent of 22.5 mills of property tax to deal with the district’s $15 million budget deficit — if it were to be covered all at one time.

That would be the “break even” point, Treasurer Carolyn Funk told the school board’s finance committee.

Funk said she ran different financial scenarios as the district prepared to ask voters to approve a new, five-year emergency tax levy to help cover the deficit.

She looked at 9.5 mills, 12 mills, 15 mills and 22.5 mills, she said, finding that the last number, coupled with spending cuts already imposed, would be required to wipe out the deficit.

Funk has said in the past that the deficit will continue to grow if left unchecked because revenue is failing to keep pace with district expenditures. The deficit could swell to $48.3 million by June 30, 2011, she said.

School board members have said they didn’t feel taxpayers could be approached for approval of a double digit levy and settled on 9.5 mills, which will be on the November election ballot as a referendum question.

Amount generated

The Mahoning County auditor’s office said that rate should generate $5.4 million in additional revenue annually, though Funk has cautioned that $5 million will be a more likely figure.

There is a fairly large number of people who fail to pay their taxes and the personal property tax is being phased out by the state, resulting in some people just no longer paying it, she explained.

Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, said the 9.5 mills can balance the budget by fiscal year 2012, combined with spending cuts and job reductions already made and further cuts being planned.

The district has eliminated 250 jobs and cut spending by $17 million in its last two budgets.

Webb and Funk have formed a small committee (which includes a retired superintendent and a retired treasurer from outside the district) to look for further reductions in spending that could include things like closing the central office building at 20 W. Wood St. and closing the bus garage, but would hopefully avoid any cuts that would adversely affect academics.

Failed attempt

The district tried to persuade voters to approve a 9.5-mill tax levy last November, but they turned it down by a 2,000-vote margin.

It was at that point that the state placed the district under fiscal emergency and appointed a five-member oversight commission to control district spending.

The commission required the school board to come up with a recovery plan, stressing that additional revenue would be essential to that recovery and that the district should consider a levy of at least the same size as the one rejected last year.

The commission has said it expects the district to recover from the deficit within five years.

gwin@vindy.com