Perrysburg schools to try for levy 7-10-12 - Sentinel-Tribune | Sentinel-Tribune | Sentinel-Tribune

Perrysburg schools to try for levy 7-10-12

Written by PETER KUEBECK, Sentinel Staff Writer

Tuesday, 10 July 2012 09:37

PERRYSBURG - A levy recommendation is expected to be put before the school board later this month, and the amount of the levy, while still undetermined, will be crucial for the school district over the next four years.
Superintendent Tom Hosler made this statement this morning at the school board's monthly work session.
A levy voted into place in 2008 will be expiring in December, and the administration has been deliberating for months whether a renewal or a replacement will be warranted for November's ballot. A recommendation is expected to be put before the board at its July 23 meeting, and a further resolution to put the matter before voters must be approved before the Board of Election's Aug. 8 deadline.
It was announced last month that a renewal of the current levy would have the district in a deficit within 10 months. State funding is to be reduced by $3.8 million by next year, in part because of the reduction of the Tangible Personal Property Tax, which is being phased out.
"That has been pulled out from under us," said Hosler.
The difficulty in arriving at the right millage to ask for on the ballot, he said, is "the crystal ball" issue - plain and simple, the district cannot see into the future for what new mandates and other issues from the state and other quarters might come their way.
"Getting the number right is going to be crucial for us."
One certainty, however, is that the student population is growing and will continue to do so as Perrysburg itself continues to expand. Over the last four years, while staffing in the schools has dropped by six percent, the number of students has grown by five percent, or more that 250. Numbers presented at this morning's meeting indicated that a number of classroom sections in the districts elementary schools are at or beyond their recommended limits, and increasingly larger class sizes are expected at the high school.
"To solve that problem is really an over $100,000 solution" at the elementaries, Hosler said.
"This trend is something we're going to continue to feel in the next four years."
This is additionally complicated by the district's delicate budgetary situation, which is hewing close to the bone. While it is beginning to climb out of the deficit it experienced in 2009, Hosler said, they are still a long way from a goal of setting aside one month's worth of operational funds for a rainy day - amounting to about $3.2 million. Treasurer and CFO Matt Feasel said this morning that their $1 million budgetary carryover was just spent on covering a recent payroll while the district waits on tax revenues. The district's budget amounts to about $40 million each year.
"We should have at least one month there to operate," Feasel said.
Further discussion of the issue is expected at Friday's Finance Committee meeting.
The expected levy may have some competition for voter's pocketbooks this fall - the city is also planning to put a levy on the ballot to pay for a new transit system to replace TARTA service, which is ending in September.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 July 2012 09:40