In Montgomery County, a total of 2,725 votes were counted for the levy and 2,729 votes were against in the final results. One other count yes came from Greene County.
School board members cited a provision in House Bil 96, the state’s budget bill, that would cap a local school district’s carryover balance to no more than 30% of its annual budget.
Huber Heights is one of the districts with the highest carryover balance in the state, at about 84% of the yearly budget. School leaders have said they should keep a high cash balance to ensure a repeat of a period around 2014 does not reoccur, when the district ran into fiscal issues and repeatedly failed to pass a levy.
“I know people are going to say it was a scare tactic, you lied to the community,” said board member Shannon Weldon. “And I’ll take that on my shoulders. But I can transparently say when we voted to put that levy on the ballot, House Bill 96 was not in play. House Bill 96 is in play today.”
Weldon said she had not slept well since the election and said she felt the district had “shot ourselves in the foot.”
“A lot of people don’t understand how detrimental (HB 96) is going to be to our school system,” said board member Mark Combs. “It’s horrible.”
Board president Kelly Bledsoe said he worried about the long-term issues for the school district if they do not put in a cost savings plan.
“It’s easier, later, to not do this cost savings, than to say we’re not going to do the cost savings and later realize we need to,” he said.
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