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South Range to look at options before decision on putting levy in front of voters in May
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Dunham
By ROBERT CONNELLY
NORTH LIMA
The South Range School District will take the next few months to decide whether to put a levy in front of voters again to help fill a projected $700,000 deficit in two years.
Superintendent Dennis Dunham said the district will make a decision by Jan. 1 on whether to put the matter on the ballot in May.
“We knew it would be a challenge for us just based on the last election,” Dunham said. “I think everything is on the table. There are certain things that I’m not, would not be willing to do in terms of being looked at as spiteful. We’re going to do things that are reasonable — that we have to — for us to balance our budget in 2017.”
Voters in Green and Beaver townships defeated the matter 1,659 to 1,067, or 60 percent against the levy, according to unofficial vote totals from the Mahoning County Board of Elections. Voters rejected a 10-year, 3.9-mill operating levy that was set to generate $707,500 annually for the district. It would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home $136.50 a year.
That was less millage than the district’s failed 2013 bid for a 4.8-mill operating levy.
District officials have been asking for additional funds because of budget forecasts. Those show a slim surplus of $30,053 in fiscal year 2016 and a budget deficit of $707,670 in fiscal year 2017. That number continues to multiply, such as a projected deficit of $1.7 million in fiscal 2018.
The district started open enrollment two years ago, and has 200 students through that this year. They bring with them roughly $5,800 per student through state funding from their home districts. This year also was the first year of a transportation and activity fee to help with coach, adviser and transportation fees. That amount varies, from $100 per student per year for sports to $20 per student for drama.
“We’ve combined positions. We’ve had open enrollment. We’re looking at any way possible to increase revenue and decrease expenditures,” Dunham said. “We’re really left with cutting expenditures, and our biggest, our single biggest way to cut expenditures is to cut personnel and programs.”
Jeff Good, South Range Board of Education president, declined to comment on what is next for South Range until after the board meets Nov. 24.
Dunham said millage, length and amount of a levy will all be debated over the next few months before a decision is made whether to put the matter in front of voters again.
“I think it’s truly a sign of the times. I think it’s difficult for all districts. In a lot of cases, it’s strictly just dollars and cents,” Dunham said. “It’s economics. Taxpayers are feeling very overburdened, but the truth is that we receive less money from the state now than ever.”