For schools and levies, it’s try and try again

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

Voters already have said “no.”

In one case, they’ve said “no” four times.

But five school districts are asking voters again — and again — to support tax issues. This time it’s Tuesday’s special election.

“We’ve made cuts, but we’ll be in bad shape without the levy,” said Kirk Baker, Jackson-Milton superintendent of schools.

Jackson-Milton is among six school tax issues from five school districts in the Mahoning Valley on the ballot.

Turnout for August special elections in the Valley has ranged from 25 percent to 40 percent in recent years.

The Jackson-Milton tax issue was initially approved in 1998 and renewed in 2003. But three times last year and on March 4, Jackson-Milton voters rejected the school renewal levy that raises about $1 million a year and expires Dec. 31.

It came close to passing in March, losing by 49 votes.

“I’m not really sure why it failed,” said Baker, superintendent for the past few months. “I think it will be close [Tuesday]. I hope it goes in our favor. If it fails, we’ll go in November.”

This is Baker’s first school levy as superintendent, but before being hired for that job, he spent 17 years as the district’s elementary school principal.

Letters urging support for the levy were mailed to voters, and the Jackson-Milton Pride citizens group initiated a door-to-door campaign in favor of the tax issue, Baker said.

The school board made about $500,000 in cuts in April, he said, but losing $988,485 a year from the tax levy would require deeper cuts.

The Springfield School District will try for the third and last time to pass a 7.1-mill combination bond issue/tax levy for new schools.

After the issue failed for the second time in March, with 46.8 percent of voters supporting the measure, the school board decided not to put it on the ballot again, said Superintendent Debra Mettee.

“The board felt that was it, the community spoke,” she said.

But members of a group that helped with the two other campaigns persuaded the school board to reconsider, she said.

“This is the last shot,” Mettee said. “If the community says, ‘no,’ we’ll move on. We’ll do whatever the community wants.”

Campaigning this time around is limited to calling voters, she said. The previous two campaigns included raising money, several community events and going door to door, she said.

The district wants the authority to borrow $10,657,543 as its share of a $30,450,000 project to build a school for those in kindergarten through grade six and another for those in grades seven to 12. The remaining money would come from the state.

The ballot issue calls for a 0.5-mill tax levy to raise $69,341 a year for 23 years to maintain those facilities.

In addition, the district is seeking $4,602,457 for other improvements to school buildings and property not eligible for state assistance, Mettee said. That includes, among other items, an auxiliary gym and administrative offices, she said.

As part of the state funding program, a school district can seek the local funding from voters only three times, Mettee said.

If the issue fails, the district will need to make necessary repairs to its buildings, she said.

“Had this come a couple of years ago, it would have been easier to approve,” Mettee said. “But with gas prices and other increased” costs, it’s now more difficult.

The Lordstown and Southington school districts are seeking approval for tax levies for a third time.

Lordstown is asking for $422,663 annually for five years for improvements to its buildings.

In March, a levy that asked for about $105,000 a year more than the measure on Tuesday’s ballot received support from 44 percent of voters. That levy was also for an unlimited period of time.

“We reduced the millage and the time frame in response to the response” from voters, Superintendent Bill Pfahler said.

The district borrowed $2 million in May to renovate the former Gordon D. James Career Center into an elementary school, and for a new roof at the junior-senior high school.

The money from the levy would go toward additional restrooms, a gymnasium and other improvements to James, Pfahler said. Also, the money would be used for new carpeting and new gym bleachers at the high school, he said.

Southington has two tax levies up for consideration.

One is a new tax levy that would raise $63,703 a year for improving buildings and sites and to fund current expenses. The other is a renewal levy to raise $200,133 a year for three years for emergency expenses.

Voters soundly rejected both in March. The first received support from only 32.3 percent of voters while the latter garnered votes from 41.5 percent of those who cast ballots on the issue.

The Leetonia school district is a relative ballot newbie in comparison to the others.

This is only the second time Leetonia is seeking approval on a new tax to raise $465,000 annually. It fared poorly when it was on the ballot in November 2007 getting 26.3 percent support.

School officials decided it would be best not to place the levy in front of voters in March, only four months after it was rejected, said Robert Rostan, Leetonia’s superintendent of schools.

“We felt we needed to prove ourselves to the community,” he said.

The district has made deep cuts in personnel expenses that will save about $1.85 million over the next five years, Rostan said.

Even so, Rostan acknowledges the district faces a challenge to get the levy approved.

“Nobody’s in the mood to pass levies for taxes,” he said. “This is a poor community. We know it makes it tough to pass a levy, but we’re rapidly running out of money.”

skolnick@vindy.com