Huber Heights City School District officials say if an additional 8-mill operating levy is rejected on Nov. 6, the district could face $5 million more in cuts and possible state fiscal oversight.

Treasurer Ann Bernardo said the levy would generate $5.3 million annually over a continuing period of time.

This is the district’s third attempt to receive new operating money. Voters rejected a 1.5-percent earned income tax in May 2011 and an 8-mill levy last November.

“Both were rather soundly defeated so we are back on the ballot for that operating money,” Superintendent Sue Gunnell said.

District voters haven’t approved a request for new money since May 2005. If the levy doesn’t pass, the district would face a $2.9 million deficit by fiscal year 2014, Bernardo said.

“It’s desperately needed,” Bernardo said, noting the district has lost about $4 million in state funding from fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2013, and has cut $8 million over two years.

Bernardo will outline at tonight’s school board meeting $5 million in potential cuts that would occur if the levy is defeated. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Valley Forge Elementary. Specifics on those cuts weren’t available.

Bernardo explained they would seek the cuts to avoid a possible state takeover. If they couldn’t come up with enough cuts, she said, then the process would begin for the state’s fiscal oversight.

An Ohio Department of Education official spoke to the board last month about what that oversight process would look like.

“We’re not there now and we made it clear to the community,” Gunnell said. “What we want to do is make sure we are trying to educate our public about what is down the foreseeable road if things don’t change, if we don’t get additional revenue.”

Despite that threat, long-time district resident Bill Homan said he plans to vote against the levy, which would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $245 per year.

Homan said he’s frustrated with the way schools are funded in Ohio “because it has been I don’t know how many years that the Supreme Court in the state of Ohio said it was unconstitutional to make our property taxes finance the schools. Nothing has been done about it,” said Homan, 75, whose four children graduated from the district.

Told that school leaders argue they have no choice but to go to the voters to seek new revenue because of cuts in state funding, Homan said, “I realize that and I feel sorry for the kids. Until I see that somebody is doing something, I’m voting no.”

Gunnell said additional cuts would impact personnel and programs.

She said the district’s message to the community is “we want to be able to keep the local control, the board being able to approve what are the cuts or not, as opposed to the state.”

The district already has cut approximately 50 teachers, 45 aides, seven administrators, eight bus drivers and five maintenance positions.

“Every area of the district — instruction and operations — has had reductions over the last two years,” Gunnell said.

The district’s administrators’ average salary for fiscal year 2011 was $83,820, which is above the state average of $76,037 and above the Dayton area average of $83,097.

Bernardo said the district paid administrators “at the level we think is fair for the amount of work they are doing.” Each of the five elementary schools with more than 600 students has a principal but no assistant principal, officials noted.

The classroom teachers’ average salary was $62,072, which is above the state average of $57,904 and the Dayton area average of $57,136. The newspaper calculated the Dayton area average based on the 40 school districts in Montgomery, Greene, Miami and Warren counties.

“A lot of times when we make reductions, we are making them to our younger staff” because of seniority, which drives up the average, Bernardo said. “Fiscal year 2012 will see a significant change in those numbers because we made so many reductions in the last fiscal year.” District officials said all staff members had a 0 percent pay increase in the last two years.

District officials said passage of the levy wouldn’t restore programs and services that have been cut or reduced and the district may consider up to $1.5 million in cuts in 2013-14 if that happens to prevent them from having to return to the ballot again.

“We don”t want to have to go back to the voters,” Bernardo said.