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DPS falls $5M short of projected levy funds

Tax collections down; county reaching out to delinquent taxpayers

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By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer Updated 11:47 AM Monday, December 28, 2009

DAYTON — Dayton school leaders cheered when voters approved a new operating levy in November 2008 in the midst of a stifling, job-killing economy that showed no signs for improving in the near future.

“We are so appreciative that in this economy they would vote to raise their property taxes to make sure that the kids of Dayton have a good quality education,” then-School Board President Yvonne Isaacs said at the time.

School leaders aren’t cheering so much these days, however.

The new levy that was supposed to generate $9.3 million a year is raising less than half that amount, thanks to an economy that’s still ailing, home foreclosures and delinquent property taxes, said Stan Lucas, treasurer for Dayton Public Schools.

“It only generates a little over $4 million,” Lucas said of the school district’s first new operating levy since 1992.

Real estate tax collections are down across Montgomery County to 93.8 percent this year, county Treasurer Carolyn Rice said. The drop is especially hard on Dayton schools.

The district was due to collect $88.5 million in property taxes this year, but collected just 87 percent of that, or $77 million, county auditor records show.

On top of that, Lucas said the district is also owed $18.5 million in delinquent property taxes over the last few years.

“It hurts our budget big time,” he said.

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