Fact Box
Bonnell opposes levy
EAST LIVERPOOL – One member of the board of education has come out against the 6.5-mills emergency levy renewal.
“I don’t feel like we are fiscally sound,” board member Gary Bonnell said. “I do not think we’re on sound, financial footing at this time with where we are heading.”
Bonnell cited the recent union contract negotiations and pay raises approved. If a separate union gets the same raise along with non-union administrators, Bonnell said it will make for a tenuous budget picture.
“I am looking at our 6.5-mill renewal levy which is for five years, and it’s going to be consumed in about one and two-thirds year projected plus a half-million deficit going into the second year past the 6.5-mill renewal levy,” Bonnell said.
Bonnell, head of the Finance and Legal Committee, said it is not a responsible move for the district to ask for the levy renewal and approve such pay raises after just having come out of fiscal emergency oversight.
EAST LIVERPOOL — Back in 1990, the East Liverpool School District combined two emergency levy requests into one, and voters have renewed it ever since.
On Tuesday, the district will ask voters to again approve the 6.5-mills emergency renewal levy that generates $1,058,000 a year for the general operating budget.
“It goes to the basic, general operations for the schools, and it helps pay the day-to-day bills of the school district and helps put teachers in front of children,” district Treasurer Todd Puster said.
The school district operates with a roughly $23 million yearly budget. Puster said if federal stimulus money is included, roughly 80 percent of the district’s revenue comes from or is funneled through the state. The other 18 percent comes from local funding including the emergency levy.
According to the Columbiana County Auditor’s Office, the emergency operating levy renewal is not a tax increase.
For a homeowner with a home value of $50,000, the homeowner cost is $99.53. A senior citizen using the $25,000 exemption pays $49.77.
For a home with a value of $100,000, the homeowner cost for the emergency levy renewal comes to $199.06 and is $149.30 for the senior citizen homeowner using the exemption.
Property values in the county are set for reevaluation next year.
Puster believes the voters will support the emergency levy once again since it does not mean additional taxes.
“I think the voters understand the importance of this and understand it’s nothing new,” Puster said. “This has been historically supported by the voters.”
When the district was released from financial oversight, Puster said state officials said it was important to renew the levy.
“They told the school board that we must keep existing revenues in place,” Puster noted.
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