McDonald schools seeking to renew an operating levy

The district also approved short-term borrowing to meet a ‘cash crunch.’

By MARY SMITH

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

McDONALD — The board of education approved seeking renewal of a five-year emergency operating levy that generates $200,000 annually and was first passed in 1988.

The issue, first approved at 7.4 mills, will go before voters for the fourth time. The 19-year-old levy is the last operating measure sought from voters that is still in effect, district Treasurer Thomas Radabaugh said at Monday’s board meeting. Radabaugh said he estimates the measure will be set at 3.6 mills by the Trumbull County auditor.

Other levies now in effect in the district are a continuous operating levy, passed in the 1930s; a permanent improvement levy originally passed in 1988 and just renewed for the fourth time; and a bond issue for 3 mills which raises $170,000 annually as an Ohio School Facilities Commission bond issue passed in 1999 and has another 16 years to go.

The district approved a 2.9-mill levy in 1988 that ran for three years and then was dropped.

The board also approved short-term borrowing of $250,000 by the district through the sale of a tax revenue note with a maximum maturity date of March 31, 2008.

Covering a cash crunch

The interest rate on the note is 5.61 per cent, which Radabaugh said the district will not only pay but earn on the money as it replenishes it before it pays off the note.

The funds will help cover a “cash crunch” caused by an extra pay period in August and expected receipt of $750,000 in a tax settlement in September in state taxes and property taxes.

The taxes will come in a week or two after the funds are needed by the district to meet expenses. Radabaugh said the same thing may happen in January, which is why the note is through March, but he added the district should be all right after that.

Superintendent Michael Wasser announced that teachers in the McDonald Education Association have voted 30-8 to ratify a new contract with the board, which goes through 2010.

The board will have a special meeting, however, after language in the new contract is clarified before it votes on the agreement.

The teachers’ old contract expires in August. Talks with classified employees are to begin July 10. Their contract ends Aug. 31.

Residents are advised that they can now use the high school track but they should still stay off the newly seeded grass at the football and practice fields.