Final Results: School Levy Defeated; Schonhut Wins Ward 2; Carbone Takes Ward 3; Maloney Elected in Ward 4
Micko, Naso and Brickley win school board seats
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The Strongsville school district's 6-mill renewal levy has been defeated 9,132 to 7,929, according to unofficial results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Issue 15 would not have raised taxes, but would have been collected for a continuing period instead of expiring after five years.
It would replace an existing issue that generates $7.6 million a year for the schools, which is about 10 percent of the budget, and expires at the end of 2012.
The district has two more chances to get the issue passed next year before cutting more than $7 million out of the budget, including busing, gifted programs and extracurriculars.
School Board
In the school board race, Richard Micko led the pack to win election to a board seat.
Voters also returned incumbents Carl Naso and Ruth Brickley to the board.
A 2011 Strongsville High School graduate placed fourth in the field of six.
Final unofficial results show Micko capured 7,514 votes, Naso got 6,457 and Brickley earned 5,684.
Greg Scott, 18, received 4,126 votes, followed by teacher Ron Schroth with 3,438 and politicial newcomer John Pietrasz with 2,379.
City Council Ward 2
Incumbent Ray Haseley, who has served as councilman for 14 years, has lost his seat to Matt Schonhut, 20.
Schonhut garnered 2,238 votes to Haseley's 1,795, according to final results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
"I'm excited, to say the least," Schonhut said Tuesday night. "I think all the hard work (on the campaign) paid off."
The race pitted the oldest council candidate -- Haseley is 78 -- against the youngest. Schonhut ran on a campaign of bringing fresh, new ideas to council.
Haseley served as council president for six years and as acting mayor for seven months after the death of Mayor Walter Ehrnfelt.
City Council Ward 3
Jim Carbone, a North Olmsted police officer, defeated Larry Frawley, a Realtor, 2,427 to 1,798. Incumbent Mark Roth did not seek re-election.
City Council Ward 4
Incumbent Scott Maloney, who was appointed to council early this year, has won election to the Ward 4 seat over Patricia Pell. Final results show Maloney got 1,824 votes to Pell's 1,632.
Dr. Roseann M. Cyngier
11:12 pm on Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Thanks for updating this all evening long!
wayne
1:10 pm on Wednesday, November 9, 2011
what part of no don;t the board under stand people don;t have the money
Matt
1:56 pm on Wednesday, November 9, 2011
To cut that $7 million out of the budget, instead of cutting things that our tax dollars should guarantee, like busing, gifted programs and extracurriculars, why not start with the excessive teacher salaries, benefits, and pensions? Strongsville's average teacher salaries are 12% higher than North Royalton and Brunswick's, 14% higher than Berea's, 16% higher than Olmsted Falls, and a stagering 35% higher than Columbia S.D. If Strongsville's pay was the same as North Royalton's for it's 400+ teachers that would be around half of that 7 million alone (and that's per year)...that's not including any changes in benefits or pensions which obviously need to be addressed and the administrator positions too. I am not anti-teacher, I just think that Strongsville has let this get a little out of hand and it needs to be put back in check. These numbers are not made up, I spent some time compiling them on www.ohiocasb.org and you are more than welcome to go there and break open MS office excel. I have a nice colorful graph representing this info if anyone wants one. I did do this appx one year ago but not alot has changed since then so I'm sure the info is still an accurate reflection of today.
Debbie Palmer
2:30 pm on Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Matt, could you email your teacher salary information to Debbie.Palmer@patch.com?
Thanks!
Richard
7:37 pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011
Having been a school board member in another district, it will be interesting to see what the school board does next. Instead of finding ways to pass a tax levi, the board needs to show their constituents they are working to cut costs. Look around the area, the county, the state, the country and the entire world. It is COST that has gotten almost every entity into trouble. Start by reducing costs and showing your constituents you know how to run a school system. And, yes, the superintendent and treasurer need to be intensely involved as well. After all, the experts work within the system. The school board can only make decisions based on the information provided by the 'experts'. It will be interesting to watch!
Shawn McKinley
11:34 pm on Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Maybe the teachers can just conduct classes in a field with a stick, and the parents of athletes can take out a second mortgage on their home to pay for the fees. On the other hand, maybe citizens might correlate successful schools and desireable communities.