By Cindy Kranz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MARIEMONT - If Mariemont's school levy does not pass Tuesday, there will be no basketball season, no school plays and no field trips, officials say.

The school board has voted to eliminate sports and extracurricular activities at all five schools - effective the day after the election - if voters reject a 5.5-mill levy.

The district has delayed hiring winter sports coaches, pending Tuesday's vote. The cuts would not apply to fall activities involved in state-sanctioned playoffs.

The stakes are high in Mount Healthy City School District as well. Mount Healthy has discussed cuts in sports and other activities, along with a possible elementary school closing, if its fifth levy attempt since August 2002 is defeated.

When districts start talking cuts in sports and extracurricular activities, emotions can run high among those who fear the worst and those who think it's just a bluff.

Janine Harrison, 14, an eighth-grader at Mariemont Junior High, swims and plays in the orchestra. If the levy loses, she'd just as soon move.

"I really enjoy Mariemont and the people, but swimming is really, really important to me. There's a lot more to school than learning,'' she said. "Basically, how everybody in school bonds is by doing all these activities, dances and sports. A lot of kids really look forward to doing that kind of stuff in school. That's what makes school fun for some people."

Some Mariemont taxpayers are cynical about whether sports and activities would actually disappear.

"It's perceived as a threat," said Mark Temming, a member of Citizens for Fair Taxation, made up of residents and others who own property in the Mariemont district and oppose the levy. "Often, those threats are made to get fence sitters to favor a position.

"People don't like to be held hostage," said Temming, an Indian Hill resident who owns two apartment buildings in Mariemont. "When they're told that if you don't vote for our levy, your kids are going to be without activities that you're used to having them participate in, I think it's counterproductive. Often when (levies) don't pass, the threats don't come to fruition."

Deborah Moore, assistant commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association, said that Xenia Schools is the only district that she knows of in Ohio in the last 15 years that has dropped athletics. That district dropped athletics in 1990 after a levy failed, but later restored it.

Usually, districts keep sports and extracurricular activities alive with pay-to-play options and fees.

School districts often walk a fine line when they lay out the consequences of a levy loss.

"The challenge is to provide voters with accurate information without doing it in such a way that they feel there's knife at their throat," said Gene Beaupre, who teaches political science at Xavier University.

"If I am a fixed-income senior, I may not care if they don't have a football team at the school," he said. "You've got to know your voters, not just your school community."

After Mariemont lost its first operating levy in May 2002, the board cut $1.6 million from its budget, instituted activity and technology fees, initiated a 10 percent employee co-pay for health insurance and appointed a board to review all finances.

The levy loss - 63 to 37 percent - was a stunning blow to the 1,800-student high-achieving district, which has earned an Excellent rating on the state's Local Report Card for the last five years.

Although the district has an abundance of academic accolades, what it lacks is a large tax base.

"The tax base has changed very little over time," said Kevin Grimmer, spokesman for the Residents for Continued Excellence, a group supporting the levy.

"We're landlocked. We have very little undeveloped land," Grimmer said. "It's mainly a residential neighborhood. We have very little room for new construction."

Grimmer said the list of cuts is not a campaign strategy, but a reality. "We're asking taxpayers for money," said Grimmer, who has a first-grader at Mariemont Elementary. "They need to know what would happen under both scenarios. It's not a threat. It's not a maybe. It's not a "what if?" situation. A resolution (outlining cuts) has been passed."

Jim Harrison's three children, including Janine, are the third generation of his family to attend Mariemont Schools. The Fairfax man is worried about the impact if the levy fails.

"I think it would be a devastating loss to all of our communities. Initially, I think it would be painful but something the school district can survive," said Harrison, a member of Residents for Continued Excellence.

"However, it's the next wave of cuts that would be the really bad ones. That would then perhaps close buildings, reduce the number of teachers, consolidate the number of classes and buildings we have,'' he said.

The district is asking for less this time. The last levy request was for 9.95 mills.

It's still too much, said Temming, when one weighs other tax increases and inflation against low wage and Social Security increases.

"What we're saying is: 'Come back to earth. Come back to reality.' Mariemont School District has made some cuts, but they haven't really made the cuts they need to make to ensure a sound fiscal policy on a going forward basis,'' Temming said. "The big issue for us is taxes continue to go up way faster than the taxpayers' ability to pay them."

Harrison, however, is more confident the levy will pass this time.

"We're looking at a much smaller levy and one that does not add anything new, just maintains what we do."

A 5.5-mill operating levy would raise $1.5 million annually. The owner of a $100,000 home in Mariemont would pay an additional $168 a year.

E-mail ckranz@enquirer.com