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Poland schools to seek levy in March
Voters will decide an emergency operating levy for Poland schools that will generate $1,448,561 annually for five years.
The school board voted to place the levy on the March 6 ballot at a special meeting. The measure was approved unanimously, 4-0. Board member David Bennett was absent from the meeting.
The Mahoning County Auditor’s office has certified the millage at 3.8 mills, said Deputy Auditor Anthony Magnetta.
Now, the measure must be filed with the Mahoning County Board of Elections by Wednesday.
Prior to the school board’s voting to place a levy on the ballot, district treasurer Donald Stanovcak notified the auditor’s office that a 0.8-mill bond issue was set to be paid off in 2012.
The funds generated by the bond issue were used for building improvements that since have been completed, said Superintendent Robert Zorn.
“It will be paid off in 2012 so that those buildings, those remodelings, are paid off. In 2013, 0.8-mill comes off for everyone,” Zorn said. The year 2013 would be the same year the new levy money would start being collected, if approved by voters.
Magnetta said that the bond issue is separate from the emergency levy. The actual levy itself is 3.8 mills, “and what they are doing is combining that and their reduction for the separate bond levy. The net effect would be a 3-mill increase” for taxpayers, he explained.
Voters defeated a 3.9-mill, five-year additional levy in November 2010 and a 4.9-mill, five-year additional levy in May.
A year ago, the November 3.9-mill levy attempt was expected to generate about $1,485,900 annually — slightly more than the amount sought now.
That 3.9-mill levy would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $119 per year, if it had been approved. The cost to homeowners of the March levy measure will be calculated by the auditor’s office today.
Since those two levy defeats, the district’s treasurer, Donald Stanovcak, released a five-year financial forecast and said he expects the state to declare the district in fiscal caution based on the projections.
Ohio Department of Education spokesman Patrick Gallaway said the state is not yet directly involved with the district.
“The fiscal year 2014 deficit means we did send a letter to the district notifying them of such, however they are not required to respond directly to us,” Gallaway said.
If the deficit remains after next October’s forecast, the department of education will require a written response from the district and become more directly involved, he added.
The district should have a balance of about $1.5 million in carry-over at the end of this school year and about $200,000 at the end of the 2012-13 school year, Stanovcak told the school board in October.
By 2014, a $2 million deficit is expected, followed by a $4.3 million deficit in 2015 and a $6.9 million deficit in 2016, he said.
The last time voters approved an additional Poland school levy was in 2003 when a 6.9-mill emergency operating levy was on the ballot.