News
Green Local Hoping To Pass Levy
By: Fred Kight
Posted on:
A special election will be held August 7 for one school district in our region to seek additional tax funds.
The district is Green Local in Scioto County and Sandy Mers is the superintendent.
Green Local is on the ballot for a new local tax to pay for day-to-day expenses.
She says, "It is an emergency operating levy. It equates to 7 mills, which is $475,000" annually.
Superintendent Mers says financial projections show the district needs more revenue.
"This is an operating levy," she says. "Our 5 year forecast shows that we don't have enough money to sustain over the 5 years and we need our operating levy now."
Green Local has a little over 600 students and Mers says passage of the levy will help them get a better education.
Mers says the district has lost positions through attrition and this year, "We actually had to reduce in force and we are down now 17.5 positions. We want to offer our kids as much as we can offer them…and with less money, we offer less electives, less challenging courses…but we have to be really frugal with our decisions because of the finances."
The operating levy was on the ballot earlier this year and was narrowly defeated.
She says, "The levy was voted down by only 17 votes."
When voters complain about ballot tax issues, they often say — I can't afford any more taxes.
But, according to Mers, "A lot of increases…are less than a cup of coffee a day."