Update: School Board Abandons 9.9-Mill Levy

School Board members said a higher-than-anticipated property tax payment this month means the district no longer needs the 9.9-mill levy on the May 3 ballot and will now seek a 6.9-mill issue in August.

The 9.9-mill levy will still appear on the May ballot and, if approved, would be collected. But school officials acknowledged that the levy has virtually no chance of passing, especially in light of the fact that a smaller levy has already been announced for August.

It is legally too late to remove the issue from the May ballot.

School Treasurer Bill Parkinson told the board, meeting in a special session Thursday night, that the most recent property tax payment the district received was $1.6 million over his conservative projection.

"Things have improved," Parkinson said.

The news saved some programs and services from being cut next school year, most notably busing and the gifted and talented program. Busing will continue as usual and the gifted program will stay intact.

But the board still made $2 million in other cuts Thursday night, most of which will likely continue through the 2011-2012 school year regardless of whether a levy passes in August.

Among them: eliminating all middle school foreign language classes; cutting three guidance counselors, three industrial technology teachers, one clerk at each school, an athletic custodian, one assistant head custodian, one family consumer science teacher at the high school and one media specialist; eliminating Mandarin Chinese at the high school; eliminating all supplemental contracts at elementary schools (which means no more intramural sports, clubs or student council); and cutting other supplemental contracts at the middle school and high school.

Pay-to-participate fees will rise to $400 per sport at the high school and $300 at the middle school, with a $1,200-a-year family cap.

The $2 million in cuts were in addition to $4.3 million in budget adjustments the board made a few weeks ago. A big chunk of that -- about $2.6 million -- came from savings in teacher salaries through a new contract and an early retirement offer.

"We've taken (fiscal year) '12 from a disaster to manageable," board member Carl Naso said.

Also brightening the financial picture is the discovery of a mistake the state made in calculating revenue from an existing levy. Resident Mike Alcox brought to error to the district's attention earlier this week.

"I give Mr. Alcox a lot of credit for drilling down and finding it," board member David Frazee said.

But while Alcox maintains the error will amount to $20 million in fiscal years 2014 and 2015, Parkinson said the actual figure is "not even close" to that.

Still, with what Superintendent Jeff Lampert called "a tad rosier" financial forecast, the project deficit for the next four years has decreased dramatically -- from the catastrophic $32 million in 2014 and $47 million in 2015 to $13 and $23 million, respectively.

And in consideration of what officials called a continually changing financial outlook, board members decided the 6.9-mill levy would be collected for only four years, rather than for a continuing period. 

Levies typically run at least five years, but the board did not want a potential renewal of the new levy and an existing 6-mill levy to come up for votes in back-to-back years.

Parkinson said a 6.9-mill levy would generate roughly $10 million a year. The 9.9-mill issue would have raised about $14.2 million a year. 

While approval of a levy in August would give the district more financial breathing room, Lampert said most of the $2 million in cuts the board made Thursday would likely stay in place next school year, largely because they involve staff.

"We have to go back and revisit what it all means as far as timing," Lampert said.

Assistant Superintendent John Krupinski said some of the cut programs may return "in some form at some point."

The last levy approved by Strongsville voters was a 6.5-mill issue in November 2007.