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Commission chairman stresses need for Liberty levy
By jeanne starmack
LIBERTY
The commission that oversees Liberty schools’ finances cannot require the school board to ask voters for new taxes, but it still recommends a levy, said the panel chairman.
The panel, at its meeting this week, amended a resolution to say a new levy was only a recommendation.
The school board did not address the issue at its last meeting.
Oversight commission chairman Paul Marshall said the panel could require the district to put a levy before voters if the auditor certified a deficit.
The district is projected to be in a deficit of more than $2.1 million, though not until 2017.
He said he would recommend a levy of up to 5 mills.
“I know getting any levy approved is not going to be easy,” he said.
He also said the district should act now. “I think we need to do it by next fall,” he said, adding that it would have to be submitted to the ballot in August.
The district cannot get out of fiscal emergency, a status it’s had since 2011, unless it can forecast deficit-free budgets for the next five years.
Parent and commission member Kristen Rock said that as a taxpayer, she would want to know why the district needs the new tax revenue.
Superintendent Stan Watson said the district would use it for salaries and benefits, supplies and materials.
“Revenue stays level, and expenses continue to grow,” Watson said.
“School districts in Ohio are inundated with unfunded mandates,” he continued. “Those are key critical factors.”
Watson also said the district loses $1.5 million through the state’s voucher system.
Marshall said the longer the district waits to deal with the impending deficit, the more money it will have to ask for.
“This district in the future is looking at a deficit,” he said. “It just is.”
Commission member Sharon Hanrahan said if the district gets feedback indicating voters will never pass a levy, then it will have to “ratchet down” on services.