“The millage is less than we requested in 2019,” Wesney said. “Back in 2019, we said we’d most likely be back to the public again in four or five years asking for additional money. November 2023 will be four years since that last request. With this request, we do believe we can sustain that for another four to five years.”
The levy is “part of the typical revenue cycle for inflationary cost, the cost of doing business,” Wesney said.
“A 5.4-mill (levy) will generate approximately $11.8 million (for operating expenses),” he said. “This will allow us to continue to recruit and retain high-quality staff, to meet our overall health and safety of students (and) to provide more staff for counseling and school safety.”
The 0.5-mill portion of the request will generate approximately $1 million to the district’s permanent improvements budget, which is all for the use and maintenance of its facilities.
The average age of the district’s buildings is 59 years.
“Renovation is really the theme, versus maintenance,” Wesney said. “When you have buildings that are as old as ours, the maintenance is a lot different.”
If voters say yes, the levy would cost a homeowner an additional $206.50 a year per $100,000 of appraised property value, the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office confirmed Tuesday.
The district initially had been pursuing a 6.9-mill levy for this fall, but that number was revised following several budget discussions, officials said.
“We did discuss income tax as a possibility and went through some of those numbers,” school board President David Roer said. “The reality is that almost all income tax levies, when you do that, fail, and we’re just not in a position to do that.”
Centerville school district voters approved a 10-year, 4.53-mill renewal property tax levy in May 2022 for regular operating expenses. That levy, which generates about $9.55 million annually in the district’s budget, goes to operating costs, like teachers, classroom materials and utilities.
David Cobb, a Centerville resident for the last 25 years, said he supports the levy.
“I think that the school district spends their money well, and I’m very impressed with how they are educating my children and how they, frankly, educated me. And I do trust that they’re doing the right thing to collect money for important operations,” Cobb told this news outlet after Monday’s meeting.
Michael Larson, a Centerville resident for the last 20 years, said he is against the levy “due to the fact that it’s unsustainable cost increase growth in the school district costs.”
“I’m concerned about the percentage and raise in salaries and staff levels ... for staff that aren’t teachers versus teachers,” Larson said. “I’m concerned that the growth in that raise is not sustainable and that they just make assumptions every four years they’re gonna pass a levy without looking at overall costs and making sure that those are reasonable and if they can reduce them in any capacity.”
Centerville schools’ annual budget
Fiscal year 2022: $109.3 million
Fiscal year 2021: $105.3 million
Fiscal year 2020: $108.9 million
Fiscal year 2019: $105.2 million
Fiscal year 2018: $100.8 million
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