Issue 17: Elyria Schools to try again for 4.9 mill emergency levy

ISSUE 17WHAT IT IS: A 4.9-mill additional emergency levy for Elyria SchoolsDURATION: 10 yearsHOW MUCH WOULD IT RAISE: $6.38 million annuallyPURPOSE: To fund teacher salaries, core curriculum and other daily operationsCOST TO HOMEOWNER/TAXPAYER: The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $172 per year Six months ago, Elyria Schools requested new operating money from voters for the first time in 15 years. After that effort failed by 278 votes in May, the district is going back to residents with an identical levy. Issue 17 is a 10-year, 4.9-mill additional emergency levy that the district said will be used to fund teacher retention and keep curriculum and student programs on track. The levy will seek to raise $6.38 million per year and, if passed, it will cost homeowners $172 a year for every $100,000 of their home's value. "The purpose is just to keep the operations of the Elyria City School District afloat," Treasurer Colleen Aholt said. "You've got the staffing, you've got the extracurriculars – it's the same purpose as last time." Aholt said that the need that prompted the district to place the same levy on the ballot in May remains, and in fact it has been exacerbated in the past six months. In September, Aholt presented the Board of Education with a financial forecast projecting deficit spending by the district would increase by $4 million each of the next three years, leading Elyria Schools to expend almost its entire $32 million cash balance by 2029. While the district is set to collect roughly $960,000 more in property taxes after recent property revaluations, the schools will also lose $2 million in state funding a year under the latest state budget. Earlier this month, Aholt said the district learned it would lose about $1.5 million in revenue per year after the Lorain County Board of Commissioners voted to approve more homestead and owner-occupied tax exemptions in the county. Aholt said that the district is always working to cut costs without impacting the experience of students, such as by attrition, not hiring new teachers to replace retiring ones, or other streamlining practices like simplifying reports or programs. "With the funding, we definitely think that it is a team effort," Aholt said. "We think that we should eliminate any (spending) waste or anything we can, so it is kind of a joint effort of, let's put a 4.9 mill levy on the ballot but let's also cut $3 million in spending. We have to do our part, too." If Issue 17 fails, she said, deeper cuts would have to be made. Contact Owen MacMillan at omacmillan@chroniclet.com. -- Owen MacMillan