Genoa board to place levies on May ballot Week Of 12/27/2021

Voters in the Genoa School District will see two levies on the May 2022 ballot – one a replacement levy used to fund technology and the other a request for additional operating revenues.
The school board Tuesday approved resolutions of necessity for putting the levies on the ballot next year and is expected to approve a second required resolution at its regular meeting on Jan. 10.
Voters first approved the technology levy in 2017. The 0.5-mill, 5-year issue now generates about $90,000 annually and is used to purchase Chromebooks for students’ use as well as security cameras and equipment for the district’s facilities. By putting a replacement levy on the ballot rather than a renewal, the issue, if passed, would be based on the district’s current property valuation rather than the valuation of 2017 when it was originally approved.
“It can’t be used for salaries and benefits. We used to pay for some of those things out of the general fund and out of the permanent improvement fund for technology. It’s basically eliminated almost anything we need to take out of the general fund for those items and we don’t spend as much as we used to out of the PI fund now that we have this levy,” said Bill Nye, district treasurer. “We found out recently this type of levy can only be in effect for one to five years. It can never be a continuing levy.”
To help fund the district’s operations, the school board also approved asking voters to approve an emergency levy in May – which will mark the fourth operating levy request the district has faced since November 2020.
However, the board couldn’t agree on a specific millage amount and approved two resolutions with different amounts. Board members will decide on what millage to seek at its January meeting where it will also likely approve resolutions to proceed for the technology levy and operating levy. Those resolutions will then be filed with Ottawa County for certification for the May ballot.
Under an emergency levy, a fixed dollar amount would be generated each year it is in effect. Emergency levies are not subject to millage reduction factors and don’t figure into the calculation of a district’s millage floor.
The board opted to seek a 5-year term for the emergency levy request.
District voters last month rejected a 5.25-mill, 5-year operating levy request that would have generated about $1.04 million. Last May they rejected a 5.9-mill issue and in November 2020 they said no to a 4.9-mill request.
Last year, the district reduced spending by about $135,000 in spending in response to cuts in education funding by the state.