Boardman and Lowellville to share schools treasurer

By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK

news@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

With the approval of a shared-services agreement, the Boardman Local School District and the Lowellville Local School District became the first public schools in Mahoning County to share a treasurer.

L. Greg Slemons was appointed treasurer of the Boardman School District in June with a start date of Aug. 1. At Monday’s board of education meeting, the board approved the agreement with Lowellville. Slemons is replacing Richard Santilli.

Slemons will be the full-time treasurer for both districts. He will earn $72,000 annually as treasurer for Boardman; $70,000 for Lowellville. The districts will share the cost of his benefits and other things, such as fees for conferences. His contract with Boardman is for three years.

“So both districts are benefiting from that,” said Frank Lazzeri, Boardman superintendent.

Lazzeri said he estimates the Boardman district will save about $35,000 annually.

“We hope to look at other efficiencies in the future,” Lazzeri said. “By having a shared employee, he can kind of give things a bird’s eye view, looking at operations in both districts, and perhaps finding other ways we can help each other out with efficiency in operations.”

Working in two districts is not new to Slemons. Since November 2013, he has been the treasurer for Orange City Schools near Cleveland and interim treasurer for Lowellville. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Youngstown State University and a master’s of education from the University of Akron.

Also at the meeting, the board approved placing two renewal levies on the November ballot.

A 6-mill, five-year levy, first passed in 1991, generates $3,274,834 each year for the district.

A 5.9-mill, five-year levy provides $3,905,538 to the district annually. This levy was first passed in 1996.

The two levies account for 22 percent of the district’s local millage from residents, Lazzeri said.