The Groveport Madison Board of Education approved a resolution to place a three year, 8.06 mill renewal with an increase emergency operating levy on the Nov. 4 ballot.
The resolution’s approval on Aug. 20 made it possible for the district to meet the Aug. 21 filing deadline to place the levy before the voters.
The proposed levy would generate $6.4 million a year and, if approved, would renew the existing three year, 5.46 mill emergency renewal levy, which was first passed in 1997 and would expire Dec. 31, 2009. The higher millage of the proposed renewal with an increase levy would generate nearly $1.9 million more per year than the existing levy.
If approved by the voters, the 8.06 mill levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home approximately $245 a year in property taxes, which is about a $78 increase over the existing levy.
According to Groveport Madison Treasurer Anthony Swartz, the existing levy was designed to generate $4.5 million annually for the district and originally assessed homeowners 9.5 mills, but that has decreased over the years as 5.46 mills now generate the same amount of money because, as values drop, the millage changes to generate the same amount of revenue.
Swartz provided the following projections regarding the district’s finances:
•If the voters approve the 8.06 mill levy, the district’s finances would remain on the positive side of the accounting ledger for the next three years before facing an operating loss.
•If the district just maintained its existing levy, or if voters reject the 8.06 mill levy, the district would be in the hole by about $890,840 by fiscal year 2010.
Additional revenue from the proposed 8.06 mill levy would help the district deal with the increasing costs of operations as well as help offset the approximately $768,000 the district has to pay back to the state as a result of the state’s miscalculations of Groveport Madison’s share of state school funding.
