Board urges voters to pass 9.5-mill levy

One board member said more cuts should have already been shown to voters.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city school board has passed another resolution urging city residents to vote in favor of a 9.5-mill emergency levy on the March 4 election ballot.

The vote Thursday was a show of commitment that the board fully supports the levy passage, which officials say is needed to bring Youngstown out of state-designated financial emergency.

Board member Jacqueline Taylor wasn’t at the meeting to vote but has been supporting the levy issue.

Those present — Shelley Murray, Lock P. Beachum Sr., Richard Atkinson, Anthony Catale, Dominic Modarelli and Michael Murphy — all cast affirmative votes.

The vote is a prelude to anticipated action by Youngstown City Council next week to also endorse the levy.

One board member, Catale, said he was disappointed with the school district’s response to a state performance audit released two weeks ago suggesting that Youngstown look at cutting 376 jobs at a savings of $17 million to help return itself to fiscal solvency.

Catale said he realizes that the level of cuts suggested in the audit was not realistic, but the district should have been ready to release details of its own cutback plans at the same time the state released the performance audit.

Youngstown has trimmed $19 million in annual spending over the last two years through staff reductions and other cuts, but the school board hasn’t talked about any cuts for the next fiscal year that begins July 1, Catale said.

The district should have been ready to present the next round of cuts to the voters, he said.

Beachum agreed, saying the district needs to show voters something before the March 4 election.

The district has released some preliminary outlines looking at $4 million in additional spending cuts next year.

Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, told the board Thursday that the administration is working on a comprehensive plan of reductions which will be ready to present to the board soon. It is a very complicated process, she said.

Murray, the board president, assured Beachum that the district will have something to present to voters before the election.

The levy, proposed for five years, would generate about $5.2 million a year in new revenue.

A state-appointed fiscal oversight commission now controlling district finances has told the school board to continue pursuing the levy while making additional spending reductions. The district can’t return to solvency without an influx of additional revenue, the commission has said.

Webb said the oversight commission might have to direct the district to reopen some of its employee contracts in order to make further staff cuts in some areas.

The school district can’t do it unilaterally without risking litigation by the unions, but the oversight commission has that authority, she said.

gwin@vindy.com