TONTOGANY — In response to expected pipeline revenues, Otsego Schools has pulled its levy off the May
ballot.
According to Superintendent Adam Koch, administrators learned two weeks ago the district will start
receiving Nexus pipeline money starting February 2020.
Gas is flowing and the money has been confirmed by the Wood County Auditor and Ohio Department of
Taxation, he said.
“This information was previously unknown to us and not something that we were able to forecast in our
budget as a predicted source of revenue,” Koch said.
The board at its meeting Thursday agreed to take the 0.75-percent income tax off the ballot.
The pipeline money had been expected in 2021 or 2022, Koch said, and he never knew what the amount would
be.
It is estimated that the pipeline will generate between $700,000 and $900,000 annually for Otsego and
this money will be used for operating costs. The income tax would have generated $2.2 million annually.

“We believe that, in the best interest to be as fiscally responsible and good stewards of the taxpayer
money, we should … take that 0.75-percent income tax off the ballot for May,” Koch said.
The need for the $2.2 million expected from the income tax amounts to over-taxation, he said.
He and Treasurer Steve Carroll will reevaluate the financial forecast with this additional money. Citing
the unknown revenue, he did not include it in his five-year forecast approved in October.
“We want to go back to the drawing board and determine what we really need to fully ask for,” Koch said.

The need for additional revenue doesn’t go away, “but the need for 0.75 percent and what that dollar
amount equates to … we don’t need that total amount.”
The district has not asked for new taxpayer dollars in 17 years and Otsego continues to be one of the
lowest taxed communities in the area, he stated.
Koch said he is not concerned about immediate repercussions from the state taking aid away due to the
increases in revenue in the district.
The Nexus pipeline money does depreciate by 3.4 percent annually, but there are provisions within the
Ohio Department of Education that allow for a “windfall affect.”
Koch said that he doesn’t know much about it and couldn’t comment further on its impact on the district.

“There is potential down the road we could get less state funding, but we don’t fully know what that
looks like yet.”
The board has made the necessary resolutions to put the issue on the ballot; Carroll said the district
should not be charged by the Wood County Board of Elections for removing it.
Administrators should “reconvene and figure out what it is that makes sense,” said board member James
Harter.
And because the expected income is pretty solid, it makes sense to pull the levy, he said.