McDonald school board to seek emergency levy

The owner of a $100,000 home would have to pay an additional $12.58 a month, the superintendent said.

By Mary R. Smith

McDONALD — McDonald Board of Education will seek an emergency levy for five years to generate $260,000 annually on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The board voted Monday to ask the county auditor to certify the millage for the levy, which is expected to be 4.9 mills.

District Treasurer Thomas Radabaugh said the biggest part of McDonald’s anticipated financial problem is that the new state budget will leave the district “flat,” at the same level for state aid from 2009 to 2011.

He said the state uses its own federal-stimulus revenue for its budget, adding, “We need another source of revenue.”

A wait for added state funding to help the district is expected to net about 1.9 percent more and could not come for another three or four years, he said.

Superintendent Michael Wasser said the levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $12.58 a month; $11.32 for a home valued at $90,000; and $10.06 for the owner of an $80,000 home.

Radabaugh also noted the district is 80 percent state funded. He noted that enrollment projections for the coming school year are also showing a projected drop of 42 students by fall, which also affects the district per-pupil income from the state.

The district operated on a $7,609,100 budget last fiscal year.

The school district operates in 2009 on the same funding level it did in 1988, Radabaugh said. That’s when voters approved a five-year emergency-operating levy to generate $200,000 a year.

The 7.4-mill measure was renewed in 2007 for the same amount. A 1998 operating levy for 2.95 mills was passed for three years and generated $100,000 a year. The board did not seek a second approval of that measure.

Radabaugh said the federal-stimulus funds the district is to receive come with all kinds of “strings attached” including $50,000 for Title I and Title VI-B, both for special education. He said he cannot put those funds directly into the general fund for operations.

The board will meet again at 5 p.m. Aug. 4 to approve certification from the county auditor for the millage to appear on the November ballot. The deadline to put tax issues on the fall ballot is Aug. 20.