There are many configurations of tax levies that Bowling Green City Schools can use to fund new
facilities, but three were suggested Tuesday by an Ohio tax law expert.
Rebecca Princehorn, a partner with Bricker & Eckler LLP, has been doing school tax law in Ohio
for 38 years. She spoke at the financial task force meeting Tuesday.
“I tell you what your legal options are,” Princehorn said.
She is the leading attorney in Ohio representing school districts with both operating levies and bond
issues, and she understands the relationships between school districts and the facilities commission,
said David Conley, the district’s financial consultant.
Princehorn reviewed three sample ballots:
• A bond issue paid for by a property tax, which was used in the previous two attempts for facilities
money. Voters are passing a monetary amount, not a millage amount.
• A bond issue combined with permanent improvement and operating levies, paid by a property tax. “Lots of
folks do this option,” Princehorn said.
• A bond issue combined with an income tax, which would impose an income tax and property tax.
Income-tax backed bonds are a possibility for the limited purpose of funding the local share, but the
options are very narrow, Princehorn said.
Ohio law only allows a school district that is in either the Classroom Facilities or the Exceptional
Needs programs to issue bonds backed by an income tax. Bowling Green is in neither program, and
therefore is not eligible to issue bonds backed by an income tax, Conley said.
“You have to be in a matching fund program (Classroom Facilities Assistance Program or Exceptional Needs
Program) to do this. Your number has to be called to do that,” agreed Princehorn.
A district can, however, pass an income tax for the purposes of paying a lease-purchase agreement and
then the lease-purchase agreement can be used to finance school facilities.
“Part of the challenge is it (the lease-purchase agreement) has a higher interest rate,” Princehorn said.

When using a lease-purchase agreement the threat of that is, if you stop paying, you can be evicted.
When the district’s number is called, then you can choose to do a bond issue backed by an income tax, she
said. Based on the district’s current state funding rank, it may be 10 years before the district would
become eligible to do this.
Rich Chamberlain asked for clarification whether an income tax-based bond could be used with the
Expedited Local Partnership Program.
An income tax can be used, but it must be through a lease agreement, not a bond, Princehorn said.
“That is why it’s the rare district that funds their entire project with a lease-purchase debt. Most
folks are mixing and matching,” she said.
The district already has a traditional income tax, and to do this option, a new ballot request needs to
be a traditional tax, unless the district waits until 2022 to allow that tax to expire. Then it could
offer an earned income tax on the ballot.
If the district wants to use an earned income tax prior to the expiration of the existing traditional
income tax, the board can choose to decline the collection of the original traditional income tax once
the new earned income tax is approved.
The district’s current 0.50 percent traditional income tax would have to become a 0.75 percent earned
income tax to raise the same amount of money.
A challenge with Expedited Local Partnership Program is “you don’t know when you’re going to come up and
have your named called,” Princehorn said.
Another challenge is that the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission has no money to pay some districts
that already have passed their bond issue.
Richard Strow asked if it would be better to pass an issue to fund the entire project “with the idea that
maybe someday our number will be called, and that state money will come at a later date.”
“That’s fair,” Princehorn said.
Another option — a joint municipal income tax shared with the district – won’t work since the boundaries
of the municipality and the school district must be contiguous with less than 5 percent of households
outside the city limits.
Another issue is the 12 percent rollback on property taxes for owner-occupied homes.
That rollback is paid by the state, but once a district passes a new or replacement levy, the rollback is
gone, and the taxpayer pays 100 percent.
“If you need more money … preserve rollbacks,” Princehorn said, and suggested combining a renewal tax
with an increase. The rollback would be lost on the increase, but preserved on the renewal, she said.

“Think about these things,” she said.
A homestead allowance is on what’s taxed; if a home qualifies, the first $25,000 of value is not taxed.
This is a property-based assistance program that must be applied for, Princehorn said.
The options for mixing and matching levies are numerous.
Strow said he is frustrated that the district can’t tax the property at Bowling Green State University.

“Is there any way we can tap that university out there? That’s a huge amount of property, that’s a huge
amount of income out there that is unavailable to us,” Strow said.
Do an earned income tax levy, was Princehorn’s response.
The chance of not getting state funds is a concern of several people, including Sandy Rowland, a Bowling
Green City Council member.
“I wish I had a crystal ball and knew,” Princehorn said.
The waiting for state money through the ELPP is like “Field of Dreams:” If you build it they will come,
she said.
At the next meeting on Feb. 7, the task force will review the district’s five-year forecast.
What they won’t do is go line item by line item, reviewing how the money is spent, Conley said to answer
a request by Grant Chamberlain.
“That’s not our job,” Conley said.
Strow, though, is concerned the facilities task force will come forward with a plan that costs more than
what the financial task force thinks is affordable.
“This isn’t a situation where we can meet in the middle,” he said.
“Everything you learn tonight is going to be put into action the meeting after next,” Conley said.
That is when he expects to receive the facilities task force recommendation.
The second meeting is set for Feb. 13. Both meetings start at 7 p.m. with locations to be announced
later.