Beavercreek school board going back to voters for levy

District failed in two levy requests in 2011; will try again in March election.

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By Mark Gokavi, Staff Writer Updated 1:17 AM Tuesday, November 29, 2011

BEAVERCREEK — Turned down twice by voters in 2011, the Beavercreek City Schools Board of Education appears headed back to the ballot in 2012.

The board on Monday night passed a resolution to present to voters a five-year, emergency additional operating levy in March. The board expects to vote at a 9 a.m. Saturday meeting to decide among four levy amounts which would raise between $10.9 million and $12.85 million.

The Greene County Auditor’s Office will certify what millage amounts those dollars represent, but district treasurer Stephen Maag’s estimates are 6.7, 6.9, 7.4 and 7.9 mills.

Maag, Superintendent Nick Verhoff and board members Peg Arnold, Kim Grant, Rob Dotson and Leif Peterson discussed the merits of finding a number that could pass but still provide for three years’ worth of solvency. Member Al Nels was not in attendance due to an ill family member.

Since the last levy didn’t pass, the district will not collect any new money in 2012. Verhoff said that’s why it would take 7.9 mills in March to reach the same level of financial security as if the November 2011 levy had passed.

The lack of new collection cost the district about $11 million. Even so, another estimated 6.7-mill levy may provide enough security for three years by what some board members said was by “the skin of your teeth.”

“I look at a 6.7 as being a feasible amount as we move forward into the spring of 2012,” Verhoff said, adding that $3 million more in cuts still must be made for the 2012-13 school year. That topic will be discussed in a meeting later this month.

Other board members said after nine years without new money, going for the lowest amount may end up in another levy request just a few years down the road if assumptions fall short.

“Anything above $10.9 million I think puts us in a riskier situation of not passing,” Dotson said. “It’s the balance of getting something or nothing.”

Arnold, the board president, said dipping into the district’s cash reserves in 2001 was “a nightmare.” The district aims to have $15 million in cash reserves.

In November, voters voted down the district’s 6.7-mill emergency operating levy, 56 percent to 44 percent. That levy would have raised $10.95 million annually and cost homeowners $205.19 for each $100,000 of appraised property value.

The November vote was closer than the 9.9-mill levy on the May 2011 ballot, which lost 67 percent to 33 percent. That levy would have raised $16.35 million annually for five years.

“If we do not increase our revenue stream,” Verhoff said, “the cuts will be much more abrupt.”

In answering a question from Grant, Verhoff said if a levy doesn’t pass in the near future, possible drastic cuts to non-mandated programs like art, music, physical education, Advanced Placement classes and middle school art, music and elective classes would need to be made to save core curriculum.

Verhoff said he didn’t want to think about not opening the two new schools under construction, but admitted that everything may be on the table.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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