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Levy to be placed before Howland voters
By Ed Runyan
HOWLAND
The Howland board of education authorized placing a 4.9-mill levy before Howland voters Nov. 8, to produce $2.8 million in each of the next five years.
The board on Monday cited as reasons the loss of $570,000 in tangible personal property taxes this school year, $860,000 in federal and state stimulus money and the likely loss of $130,000 in property taxes.
The proposed levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $150 per year.
John Sheets, Howland superintendent, said the district knew it would have financial problems when it learned this spring that Gov. John Kasich was eliminating the personal tangible property tax two years earlier than originally planned.
Howland has traditionally collected the most personal tangible property taxes of any school district in Trumbull County because of the large amount of industry in the Golden Triangle area of Howland, including Delphi Packard Electric on North River Road, Sheets said.
Kasich’s budget will have the biggest impact on school districts that receive a large amount of its revenue from tangible personal property taxes, Sheets said.
As for property taxes, the district has been advised that the county’s six-year revaluation is nearly complete, and it is likely that there will be about a 10 percent drop in the township’s real estate values.
As a result, the amount of money the schools receive from the inside (non-voted) millage on property taxes will drop, said Thomas Krispinsky, the school district’s treasurer.
“The district has already begun to scale back on programs and services,” a school board news release says. “For example, the high school Latin program and two vocational programs have been discontinued.”
So far this year, the district eliminated 13 teaching positions and 15 support-staff positions to save $1,160,000, Sheets said.
“With huge losses of state and federal aid and increased costs of day-to-day operations, the board has decided to let the voters chose whether we should operate the same programs and services that have made our district excellent,” said Barbara Wright, school board president.
Sheets said the board will need to implement more than $1.8 million more cuts before the 2014-2015 school year if the additional revenue is not approved.
“The district cannot sustain the programs and services that our community has come to expect from its schools without additional revenue and some continued scaling back,” Sheets said.
“We’ve already eliminated 13 teaching positions. Where do you go next?” Sheets said.