WYOMING — Facing a budget deficit beginning in 2003, the Wyoming Board of Education has decided to place a 9.5-mill property tax operating levy on the May 7 ballot.

        A number of factors persuaded the board to seek a levy:

        • The cap on state funding aid to districts with growing enrollments enacted in 1998-99 (resulting in a loss of $2.5 million to Wyoming over a three-year period).

        • The newly imposed “cost of doing business factor” cap (an annual loss of about $700,000 beginning this year).

        • High utility costs, rising health insurance costs and a slowing economy, which is reflected in a flattening of district income tax.

        “Despite our internal efforts to keep the budget in check, we, like most suburban districts, are finding it difficult to count on consistent state aid,” said Ted W. Knapke, superintendent.

        “In our case, with the implementation of the state funding caps in recent years and then with a downturn in revenue from our school district income tax, it's extremely difficult to accurately project what our income will be and to balance the budget.”

        Wyoming will be accompanied by other school districts on the ballot in increasing numbers because the state hasn't made a systematic change in funding education, said John Brandt, executive director of the Ohio School Boards Association.

        The levy would generate about $1 million in the first half of the 2003 fiscal year and then $2 million each year thereafter. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay an additional $330 a year, about a 35 percent increase.

        About 85 percent of a school district's budget is personnel costs.

        Anticipating a budget deficit next year, the district has already shaved $153,000 from this year's budget and anticipates further cuts of about $400,000 in the 2002-03 school year.

        The district has asked focus groups and the teacher's association for suggestions on cuts that won't impact students. “That's our goal. Let's tighten the budget as much as we can to balance the budget, but let's do it in way that has minimal impact on students in the classroom,” Dr. Knapke said.

        The position of director of human resources will be eliminated June 30. The district is also looking at expenses that can be delayed a year, such as new textbooks and computer replacement.

        Wyoming's last operating levy was passed eight years ago in 1994, when residents approved a 0.5 percentage-point increase in the school district income tax. Residents currently pay a 1.25 percent school district income tax.

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