YEAR REVENUE EXPENDITURES
2016 39,683,000 43,492,203
2017 40,629,000 43,164,719
2018 41,209,000 44,199,294
2019 41,978,000 44,413,060
2020 42,797,000 46,585,399
Source: West Carrollton City School District projections.
Supporters of a 5.5-mill continuous levy the West Carrollton City School District is seeking say they have extended the last tax increase for nearly a decade and plan to do the same with Issue 20, if voters approve it.
“We’ll take this and we’ll stretch it – just like we’ve done in the past,” said district Superintendent Rusty Clifford. “And make it last as long as it possibly can.”
Voters in the district – which includes parts of Miami Twp. and Moraine – last approved new taxes in 2007. But three years later the increase was renewed with the passage of a 6.5-mill levy, according to the Montgomery County Board of Elections.
Since then, district officials said, caps in the state funding formula and the phasing out of the tangible personal property tax reimbursements have put West Carrollton into deficit spending with its nearly $40 million budget. Without additional revenue, documents show that deficit growing annually through 2020.
“We’ve only asked for what…. we believe the residents can afford,” Clifford said. “We surely didn’t ask for what we needed.”
Approval of the operating levy March 15 will cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $192 a year while generating nearly $1.93 million annually, according to the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office.
The district is seeking a continuing levy — meaning it will not need to be renewed by voters — because, as board of education member Tom Wolf has said, it has demonstrated it has spent tax dollars prudently and to avoid what Clifford calls “levy fatigue.”
There is no registered opposition to the issue, elections officials said. If Issue 20 is defeated, the district will look to place it on the ballot again in November, Clifford said.
Supporters have used the district’s website to promote the need for the levy and encourage eligible voters to cast ballots. They have several videos of administrators urging voter support.
The district has added $1.1 million in upgrades “at no cost to the taxpayer” with joint agreements to improve to its athletic facilities at the high school and playground equipment at C.F. Holliday, according to district Business Manager Jack Haag.
District officials said West Carrollton is below the state average in administration, operations, maintenance and per pupil spending, while being above the state average in percentage of the general fund budget going to classroom for instruction.
Meanwhile, Schnell Elementary School Principal Barbara Gardecki said, staff did not receive a pay increase for three years, helping to trim costs while the district’s open enrollment policy has “created the equivalent of a two-mill revenue stream and continues to be a positive experience.”
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