Lakeview schools get bad financial news

CORTLAND — Superintendent Robert Wilson says bad news from the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office last month has him planning for an uncertain future for the Lakeview school district.

Wilson said he learned that the Kmart Distribution Center in Bazetta Township and the Delphi Packard facilities in Cortland will be producing $300,000 less than anticipated in personal tangible property tax payments to the school district starting this school year.

The Trumbull County Auditor’s Office reports that Kmart’s valuation dropped from $13.2 million in 2006 to $5.4 million in 2007, and the the valuation of the Delphi Packard plants in Cortland and Bazetta dropped from $6.8 million in 2006 to $1.8 million in 2007.

Kathy Huggins of the auditor’s office said the valuations are determined by figures the companies turn in to the Ohio Department of Taxation.

The school district had anticipated a $300,000 carryover this year but will now struggle to avoid a deficit, Wilson said. The district faces a projected deficit of $900,000 the following year, said Milton Williams, Lakeview treasurer.

For more, see Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com