Boardman schools' financial forecast brighter with levy, CFO says

BOARDMAN

With the recent passage of a 5.8-mill emergency levy, Boardman School District’s five-year financial forecast avoids the sharp cuts the district discussed at a community meeting earlier this year.

“I feel a lot better now than I did two weeks ago,” said Nicholas Ciarniello, the district’s treasurer and chief financial officer.

Ciarniello presented a draft version of the five-year forecast to the school board at a special meeting Thursday.

With the additional $4.9 million generated by the levy, Ciarniello forecasted a positive cash balance through June 2022.

The levy helped the district weather the phase out of reimbursements from the discontinued tangible personal properties tax, a decrease in state funding and a near $1 million payment to Mercy Health.

The levy’s passage prevented the need to resort to “Plan B,” which would have led to $1 million in budget cuts, including eliminating 12 teaching positions.

Read more about the situation in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.