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School officials say levy renewals are critical
By kristine Gill
School officials are hoping Austintown residents vote Nov. 2 to renew school levies.
The 4.9- and 7.3-mill levies would bring $4.7 million to the district annually for daily operations including salaries, utilities and insurance costs. No new costs would be associated with the renewals.
Though the levies are not new, Superintendent Vince Colaluca said these issues are still important for the district.
Former treasurer Barb Kliner said the issues were first on the ballot in 1996 and renewed in November 2000 and May 2006.
Colaluca is hoping the district’s recent rating of Excellent through the Ohio Department of Education will encourage voters to continue to support the schools.
“We are one of three school districts in the county that have not had new money since 2000,” Colaluca said. “We’ve been living on this money for a long time and will continue to do that as long as the bottom doesn’t drop out from under us.”
School board President David Ritchie agreed.
“If we don’t [pass], we’re in deep trouble,” he said. “We’re well aware that if we don’t get it, there will be significant cuts.”
Ritchie said the board has not yet entered into discussions of what those cuts might look like should the renewals fail.
“We don’t take any levy lightly,” Colaluca said. “When we passed these levies, we told taxpayers that every five years, you can judge Austintown schools on how we’re doing.”