School Levy On Ballot Again
After being under fiscal emergency for more than six years, the Bellaire Local School District is asking voters for help in getting control of its finances back from the state.
The school district has placed on the Nov. 8 general election ballot an additional 3-mill levy for seven years that’s expected to generate $417,362 for “emergency requirements” — just enough to show state officials they won’t be in the red after the next three years.
The Bellaire school district has seen levies defeated eight times since May 2010, including most recently in the 2014 primary election. Voters did approve a renewal of a 3-mill levy for permanent capital improvements in November 2015.
Superintendent Darren Jenkins said he is “cautiously optimistic” voters will approve a levy that’s for a smaller amount than those in the past.
If the levy is passed, a property owner with a home assessed at $100,000 would pay 28 cents a day — or $102.48 annually — in additional taxes, according to Jenkins. The extra cost for a home valued at $50,000 would be 14 cents a day, or $51.24 annually.
He said the average home in Bellaire is valued at $75,000, which would see an additional 21 cents a day in taxes, or $76.65 a year.
As Bellaire schools remain in fiscal emergency, the State Oversight Commission has given the school district three conditions for release, according to Jenkins:
∫ The district had to create a budget reserve fund with enough money to run the district for 30 days — about $1.3 million. This fund has been established, Jenkins said.
∫ Bellaire Local Schools also was mandated to create a fund to cover pending retirements for staff. That fund also was established, but Jenkins said the amount needed in the account is established by state calculations and varies from year to year.
∫ The school’s projected five-year forecast must remain in the black for the next five years. The forecast shows Bellaire schools being in the red after three years.
The money that would be generated by the levy would provide the revenue to show the school district as financially sound for years four and five, according to Jenkins.
“That’s how we came up with that (3-mill) figure,” he said.
The school district is also asking for the additional money so it can reinstate some programs that have been eliminated there. Jenkins said since 2009, more than $5.4 million in staff and services have been cut.
Jenkins said the levy funds could help to bring back music, art and physical education classes at the elementary and middle schools. Many extracurricular programs also were cut.
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