Levy back on ballot
By Jeff Gallatin
North Olmsted
Published Aug. 30, 2006

School district officials hope the turnaround which led to a proposal for an operating levy to be going on the November ballot leads to the measure passing.

With one day to go before the filing deadline for November ballot issues, the school board Aug. 23 reversed a decision made only two days earlier and placed a proposed 6.5 mill operating levy on the November ballot. About 100 school district employees and residents were on hand to witness the vote at the special meeting, with many applauding when the measure was approved.

The switch came when Vice President John Lasko and Chris Glassburn changed their votes to join fellow board members JoAnne DiCarlo, Don Frazier and President Mike Raig in voting for the measure. Lasko and Glassburn had voted against the proposed levy Aug. 21, which stopped the proposal from moving forward since at least four affirmative votes are needed for a levy to go on the ballot.

After the meeting, Raig, who had spent most of an 80-minute recess at the Aug. 21 meeting trying to convince Glassburn to change his mind that night, said he was happy.

“I’m glad we’ve got everybody on the same page and that we will be going into this levy campaign together,” Raig said. “As I said the other night, there’s always hope and that’s why we scheduled another meeting to discuss the matter. This is a very important issue to the community and the schools. That’s why it’s had such a large amount of discussion.”

By placing the levy on the ballot, it will be the third attempt this year to pass a 6.5 mill operating levy, which would raise about $5.3 million. Voters rejected one in May along with a separate proposal for a capital improvements levy. A special election earlier this month for just the operating levy was defeated by about the same 60 to 40 percent margin. A combined operating and capital improvements levy was defeated by a 56 to 44 percent margin in November 2005.

Raig reiterated previous statements that the levy millage will be based on the older property valuations and not the recently released new ones where many people saw an increase in their property taxes. State codes prohibit the district from collecting more than what would be taken in the old valuations.

“It’s important that people remember that,” Raig said. “We’re only allowed to collect the amount of money which voters approve.”

He said it’s still better for the schools to give voters the opportunity to approve a levy that would allow the schools to collect funds in 2007 and avoid possible cuts in district programs or personnel. If the district had followed through on the results of the Aug. 21 meeting, the earliest it would have been able to place a levy on the ballot would have been February. Even if that passed, the earliest funds could have been collected was 2008, since funds from a levy cannot start to be collected until the calendar year after it passes.

In discussing his vote, Lasko cited the recent excellent rating the district received in the annual state academic report card on district programs.

“Dr. (Superintendent Kurt) Stanic and Dr. (Associate Superintendent Cheryl) Dubsky and the rest of the staff have put programs in place which have brought about that rating,” Lasko said. “I don’t want to see them stopped because of a potential lack of funds because we didn’t try again to get a levy passed this year. I think the voters deserve the opportunity to see if they want to back this proposal.”

Lasko reiterated that he has concerns about the levy’s 6.5-mill figure, but said he is backing the levy and will be working to get it passed.

Glassburn said he still wants to see district officials meet with city residents and district workers to outline what could happen if the district does not pass a levy. He estimated that he had received more than 130 phone calls and e-mails last week about the levy votes.

Stanic said he’s pleased the district is going into the levy campaign united.

DiCarlo and Frazier reiterated previous concerns about possible cuts and urged the audience members to stay involved through the campaign.