Saturday, January 23, 1999
Cincinnati schools to seek levy
Amount of tax undecided
BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
While Cincinnati Public Schools leaders agreed Fridaythey need to ask voters for a tax increase in May, they remain divided over the amount.
Rather than ask the board to choose from one plan, the board's equitable resources planning and development task force decided Friday to present the board with seven options at its meeting Monday at at district headquarters in Corryville.
The board, which is free to approve a different plan, is not expected to decide Monday the amount of the tax increase. The deadline for the ballot issue is Feb. 18. “What we decided was a group of suggestions to make to the board of education on Monday night regarding the size, the timing and the purpose of a tax levy,” said Virginia Griffin, coordinator of the task force.
The options discussed range from a 4.5-mill to 17-mill levy. The lower option, which would raise about $24 million, would require the owner of a $75,000 house in the district to pay an additional $103 a year. The higher amount would raise about $92 million, and require the owner of a $75,000 house to pay an extra $390 annually.
The average home in the district is worth $75,000.
The lower amount would allow the district to continue its current spending levels. The higher amount would allow officials to erase a $30 million equity gap between neighborhood schools and magnet programs.
Brewster Rhoads, a parent from Mount Washington who has headed the district's levy campaigns since the early 1990s, said school leaders need to be very clear with voters. He said the last time the district passed a levy, officials said chances were high that they'd ask for more money four years later.
“Promises made, promises kept,” Mr. Rhoads said. “It's the state that's forcing us to deal with this problem in May.”
School officials estimate it will cost at least $700 million to renovate the district's 79 schools.
If voters agree to pay for half of the needed renovations, district officials will ask the state for more money, draw on district reserves and use pledged money from city and Hamilton County leaders for the rest.
The city and county have pledged $200 million over 20 years from revenues from the new stadiums; adjusted for inflation, that's $120 million if the district borrows the money this summer to start repairs.
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