Barberton Schools go for 11 mills
By BOB MOREHEAD
BGNN senior staff writer
The Barberton City Schools are going for broke.
The school board voted reluctantly Jan. 28 to ask for 11 more mills in the May primary. This will hike taxes on a $100,000 home an extra $385 per year and reinforce district coffers by $5.9 million.
A week earlier, the board passed resolutions asking the county fiscal office to certify what each of three levies would collect: 7 mills, 9 mills and 11 mills. At the Jan. 28 meeting, board member Brenda Rickenbacker leaned toward the smaller amount.
“I don’t think the bigger levies will pass,” Rickenbacker said.
Board member Pat Boyle pointed out that 7 mills would leave the district far short of filling in the looming deficit.
A swirling vortex of circumstances, most out of the district’s control, converged to leave it destitute. Inflation, particularly in energy costs, vastly exceeded expectations. In Columbus, the General Assembly failed to renew the Fair School Funding Plan and reformed property taxes, considerably dropping state payments to schools.
“The state’s share is declining, Ryan Pendleton, a consultant helping the district weather the fiscal storm, said. “That is a fact.”
In Washington, D.C., the Department of Education was dissolved, pulling a lot of federal money. Back home, health insurance took a $0.5 million hit due to insufficient funds on hand to cover expensive claims, the five-year forecast contained substantial errors which are still being unraveled, and the board tarried too long coming up with a plan for when Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief funds, a pandemic program, ran out. The final disbursal was last year.
“What will the cuts look like,” board President Tom Harnden asked. “We can’t have 40 kids to a classroom. We can’t consolidate buildings, we already did that a couple years ago.”
February is a big month. That’s when the revised five-year forecast, correcting the errors, will be released. Pendleton expects the $9.2 million projected deficit for July to surpass $11 million. It is also the month the board is required to submit a recovery plan.
In better news that night, the board welcomed the new varsity softball coach, Randy Scott.
The board also approved out-of-state contest travel for several vocational compact programs. The trips are self-funded through fundraisers.
No amount of money is ever enough for these beasts. They keep raising property taxes and they still never have anything to show but millions of dollars of debt and what’s the solution? Just tax the homeowners more money. In every single situation they basically tell us they will do better next time. It was originally 7 million, then 9 million now 11 million. By next month it will be 12 million. We have been fighting a losing battle with property taxes and the school district mismanagement of OUR money. We finally got a small relief with the new property tax law even though it’s not enough it was a step forward and we take one step forward and here come the same vultures that pissed away your taxes to astronomical numbers telling us it’s actually a few more million than they told us and they want to give us the privilege to pay for it. Again! Enough is enough. People are losing their homes and struggling to pay property taxes that went through the roof and these vultures was part of those costs and now they have their hand out telling you no matter how much your property taxes went up or how the new law that passed putting a cap on property taxes that they have more millions to add to the already 9 million deficit and they want YOU to pay for it and they will find a way to make you pay for it. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Vote these vultures and beasts out and ABOLISH PROPERTY TAXES!
The board and all of administrators have greatly failed at their jobs. They have failed the families and children of this community. Shame on them. We will NOT pay for that. People will move out of town, remove their children from this failing system and the whole city will feel the effects of Jason Ondrus, Mike Andric, and Craig Mckendry.
Another reason I will vote no is because when I voted for the last levy they changed it after it passed. There were supposed to be 4 elementary schools they knocked it down to 2. Highland was supposed to be razed and a new elementary school put in its place. Instead that parcel went to a realty company that the school board president at the time had a wife working for. Conflict of interest much. The purchase of the 3 homes that were in the way at Highland field were an added expense when plans changed because according to these supposedly educated people they didn’t do their due diligence on the Highland property. So if there aren’t enough buildings to spread out in thank the previous people involved including Tom Harnden who was instrumental in that levy. Trust them as far as you can throw them.