Fitch bond issue failsSFlbSFlb

May 7, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

Plans for a new high school and revamped areas of campus were put on hold by Austintown voters.

“It’s a sad day for Austintown schools to turn away $31 million and give it back to the state,” said Vince Colaluca, superintendent.

He said the district will have to go out to the community again in the future since the rating from the OFCC on the need for a new school will not change.

The district has 13 months to pass the bond before it goes into a “lapse” status, which means the local funds will have to be raised first. The next opportunity would be for a special election in August, which the board would have to vote on in the upcoming months and would likely cost about $30,000.

The issue would have built a new high school and revamped the auditorium, a gym and football stadium, among other items. Approximately $34 million from the money raised if the bond had passed would have gone toward the cost to build a new school. The rest, about $10 million, was going to go toward a locally funded initiative for renovations.

The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission awarded the district money last year to cover 47 percent of the $68 million cost to build a new school. The 37-year bond would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $144 per year.

The new 285,992-square-foot building would replace the 1960s-built Fitch High and bring it up to date for curriculum, technology and security measures. Altogether, building the new school and revamping parts of the campus would cost $77 million.

Board President Kathy Mock and member Dr. David Ritchie stood outside of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church on South Raccoon Road all day to inform voters about the bond. After a day at the polls, members of the bond committee, board of education and school officials went to Barry Dyngles restaurant and watched results come in.

“[We] absolutely went into it with all the hope of it passing,” said Kim Smrek, chairwoman for the Austintown Bond Committee. “Unfortunately, if it doesn’t pass it will cost the tax payers a lot more money.”

In Struthers, voters passed a 3-mill, five-year additional property tax levy for road resurfacing and maintenance.

“We are really happy that all the work that we put into the campaign that it passed, and it is something that we felt that we needed. And I think [voters] saw what we were up against,” Mayor Terry Stocker said.

Once the revenue starts coming in the city will be able to use it for matching funds on potential state grants the city could receive.

The city had a roadway condition rating analysis done last year by MS Consultants of Youngstown that revealed 78 of the city’s streets need to be resurfaced within the next four years and 44 of those 78 need resurfaced within one to two years. The levy generates $318,794 annually and will allow the city to resurface between 25 and 30 percent of its roads within the next five years. The revenue generated will go toward maintenance and road resurfacing in the city’s four wards. It will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $105 a year.

Boardman schools renewal levies also passed, a 2.4-mill renewal levy and a 1.8-mill renewal. Poland schools 2.9-mill renewal levy was also approved. Boardman Park’s 0.3 renewal levy was approved.

A 0.75-percent additional income tax for West Branch schools was turned down.

In the Springfield school district, a 1-percent income tax renewal for five years to raise $1,935,000 annually was also defeated by voters with 700 in favor of renewal of the tax and 747 opposing it.