Hurting district budgets warrant school-levy approval, officials say

By Harold Gwin

Youngstown schools will ask voters a fourth time to approve a 9.5-mill levy.

YOUNGSTOWN — A variety of school tax levies, the local lifeblood that keeps the doors of education open, will be before voters in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties again Nov. 4.

There are no fewer than 20 school levies and bond issues on the ballot.

Some are new, but some are renewals of existing levies about to expire, and school district officials say they need those revenues to continue to balance their budgets.

Others, like Austintown, have warned that the district will go into deficit spending by the end of this fiscal year unless a new tax levy is approved.

And then there is Youngstown, which has been in deficit spending for two years and will try for the fourth time to get voters to approve a 9.5-mill emergency tax levy that school officials say would cover the red ink and restore the district to solvency.

The vote has been getting slowly closer.

Youngstown voters turned it down by some 2,100 votes in November 2006, some 1,800 votes in November 2007 and just under 1,100 voters last March. One difference this time is that the district is asking for a four-year levy instead of a five-year tax plan.

The enthusiasm for the Nov. 4 presidential race is expected to generate a large turnout, which could help the levy campaign, said Scott Schulick, chairman of Youngstown’s levy committee.

On the other hand, the state of the economy is a negative factor, he noted.

There doesn’t appear to be an organized campaign against Youngstown’s levy, but critics of the effort have made their feelings known on various Web sites, suggesting that the district is top-heavy with administrators, needs to cut its spending, needs to control perceived or real issues of school violence and, in some cases, that the superintendent should be replaced.

The Youngstown school board has made major cuts, trimming some $26 million in spending and some 450 jobs over the last two years. That list includes some 30 administrative slots this year alone.

Officials said they have balanced the budget in terms of essentially matching $106 million in annual general fund revenue with about the same amount of spending. The problem is the $25 million the district has had to borrow from the state so far to balance its last two budgets.

Youngstown has repaid $7.5 million of that amount and is scheduled to pay $12.7 million more this fiscal year but will have to borrow $10 million more to cover that payment.

School officials said the bond issue would generate sufficient new revenue to get the loans paid off and the district back in the black by 2011 or 2012.

People need to realize that the levy is temporary, Schulick said, noting that Youngstown hasn’t had a new operating levy in 20 years.

The levy committee has been stressing how important the school system is to the future of the community, and, by investing in the schools, people will be protecting the city’s future, Schulick said.

Some school board members have said that strong opposition from the city’s West Side has helped defeat the levy in the past.

“I’m a West Sider,” Schulick said. The strength of the West Side depends on the strength of the schools and the rest of the city, he said.

If passed, a Youngstown homeowner with a $20,000 home would pay an additional $55 annually in taxes. A $60,000 home would pay an additional $165 a year and a $100,000 home would see an additional tax bill of $274 a year.

In Austintown, the school district is presenting voters with a new 4.9-mill tax levy proposal.

The district hasn’t had a new operating levy passed since 1996.

The school district has warned that Austintown is facing a general fund deficit of as much as $3.5 million this year. That would result in the state’s placing the district under “fiscal emergency” and appointing a financial oversight commission to take control of district spending, officials have said.

That puts programming at risk, including transportation that Austintown now provides to 4,200 of its 4,900 pupils, said Doug Heuer, Austintown superintendent. The elementary class size of 21 to 22 children could be increased, staff could be lost and so could extracurricular activities, he said.

The loss of about $1 million in state, tangible personal property (machinery and equipment) tax revenue is part of that red ink, and the state of the economy is likely to boost the property tax delinquency rate, further hurting revenues, Heuer said.

Opponents of the levy have said they fear the money it generates would be used for a new building, not to cover operating costs, but Heuer pointed out that only 0.5 mills would be earmarked for necessary general improvements. The remaining millage would all go into operations, he said.

Austintown has cut spending by about $8 million over the last three years, he said, noting that closing Davis Elementary alone saved about $500,000 a year.

Two percent of the teaching staff, 6 percent of the supplemental contract sports staff and 12 percent of the administration have been cut, and employees have approved contracts that don’t give them any base pay raises this year, Heuer said. That freeze doesn’t include the annual salary step increments in the teacher contract.

Austintown employees also pay 10 percent of their health care insurance premiums, he said.

Joe Caruso, a member of the district’s levy committee, said yard signs and even television commercials focusing on the importance of education, property values and safety are all part of the campaign to get voters to support the tax plan.

Homes and businesses are people’s greatest personal investments, and strong schools make a strong community, he said.

Caruso said he hasn’t heard of any organized opposition to the levy, but there has been a lot of support from businesses and residents.

School officials say the levy would mean an additional tax of $75 a year on a $50,000 home, $120 a year on an $80,000 home, $150 a year on a $100,000 home and $225 a year on a $150,000 home.

gwin@vindy.com