Genoa: Board looking to May ballot for levy

Genoa school board members Monday approved a resolution of necessity for putting a property tax levy on the May 2021 ballot.
Bill Nye, district treasurer, said the board is considering a 5.9-mill, 5-year levy that would, if passed, generate approximately $1.1 million annually to pay for operating expenses.
“At this point, that’s the thought process of the board,” Nye said.
A second resolution to proceed will be on the agenda of the board’s January 2021 meeting, he said.
District voters rejected a request last month for a new 4.9-mill operating levy but approved the renewal of another operating issue for 3.9 mills.
“We were fortunate to have the renewal levy pass but the new levy didn’t pass,” Nye said. “But as things stand now we are facing deficit spending and will need additional money at some point. If the levy had passed in November we would have started collections in January 2021. If this one passes we won’t start collecting on it until January 2022. So we essentially lost a year of collections. With our need for additional money we had to increase the requested millage amount.”
If the proposed levy does pass, the board has agreed to eliminate student fees and pay-to-participate fees for the duration of the five years the levy is in effect.
Student parking fees, insurance fees for students using district Chromebooks and pre-school tuition will remain in effect.
Nye had projected the district would face a deficit of about $730,000 by the end of the fiscal year ending next June but has since revised that estimate to $550,000.
If current revenues and expenditures remain on track he is projecting a deficit of about $1.4 million by the end of the next fiscal year.
“That’s the real reason behind the levy request,” Nye said. “We’re hoping that state support remains at least at current levels. We don’t have a First Solar like Lake schools, we don’t have pipelines going through our district and we don’t have a Davis-Besse so we have to depend on our community.”
Unless the state changes school funding, he expects the Genoa district to be on a six or seven-year cycle of needing additional revenues.
The district lost about $230,000 in state funding in the spring when Gov. Mike DeWine balanced the state budget for fiscal 2020 with $775 million in general revenue fund reductions, including about $300.4 million for K-12 schools. The governor cited the loss of tax revenue from the shutdown of much of the state’s economy due to the pandemic as the reason for the cuts
Nye said at the time the Genoa school board enacted about $135,000 in spending cuts in response to the loss of state funds, including paring the pre-school program and reducing staffing.
He said the Genoa Area Education Association, which represents the teaching staff, also voluntarily made some contract concessions, which resulted in savings.

Relief funding
The trustees of Allen and Clay townships have funneled a share of their coronavirus relief funding to the school district.
Allen Township has provided $50,000 and Clay Township has provided $30,895 that will be used to purchase gloves, disinfectant, portable air filters and other personal protection equipment, Nye said.