MOUNT HEALTHY — A loss of about 80 students to charter schools has led to Mount Healthy City School District placing a tax increase on the ballot sooner than expected, school officials said.

        The Mount Healthy Board of Education on Monday voted to place an 8.99 mill levy on the August ballot. The proposed levy would raise about $8.1 million over three years. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay an additional $275 in property taxes.

        “We hoped to make it to February 2003 without another levy,” Superintendent David Horine said. “However, we had three financial events since August that were unforeseeable and beyond our control.”

        The events, which are expected to cost the district $1.8 million over the next three years:

        • A loss of students to community schools throughout Cincinnati.

        When students leave a school district for a charter school, the district loses about $5,000 in per-pupil funding for each student. This year, the district's budget is reduced by $448,000.

        Mr. Horine can look out his office window and see the dollars disappear as some students attend a charter school next door, the Hamilton County Math & Science Academy. Other schools that have lured district students include virtual schools, such as the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT).

        • Hillman Fastener, the largest business in the school district, is changing the way it does inventory, resulting in less tax revenue for the district. Because of that change, the district has to pay back $178,000.

        • Increases in insurance costs for fleet and liability insurance and anticipated increases in health insurance continue to chip away at the district's $27 million budget.

        As a result, the district started making some internal cuts. “We found ourselves cutting those things that have led to our success,” Mr. Horine said.

        On the 2002 Local Report Card, Mount Healthy School District jumped from Academic Emergency to Continuous Improvement, skipping the Academic Watch category.

        The previous levy, for 6.99 mills, passed in 1998, followed by a renewal in 1999. The levy lasted three years — through May 2001.

Black vote diluted in redrawn district
Abuse victims find empathetic response
Priest impossible to prosecute
Burden of college expenses increasing for U.S. families
Roach ruling to come tonight
An outreach, a partnership
Barn logo displays Ohio pride
Beleaguered Sabis school moves to hire new director
City manager cuts back on overtime
Hospital conversion under way
Luken to name growth panel
Mt. Healthy schools seek tax increase
Norwood counting on levy
School in statewide Hall of Fame
Tax would benefit elderly
Tristate A.M. Report
HOWARD: Some Good News
RADEL: Zapped
Butler Co. looks at 'rapid indictment'
Little Miami lobbying for 6.9-mill levy
Miami Twp. monitoring liquor sales
Need for Warren Co. college examined
Ohio State sprucing up main entrance
Tornado victims clean up
Town renamed for day to salute boy who died
Traficant asks House for more defense time
Five more suits filed against Louisville church
Job fair to aid teens amid higher jobless rate
Lawyers want 'snitch' out of client's jail cell
Louisville wins battle of the Belles
Musical strikes a patriotic chord
Newport, Covington get federal funds to fix schools
Skate park plans aired
State budget impasse nears flash point
Study links caterpillar droppings to foal loss
Witness says he sought a hit man