West Geauga Renewal Levy
West Geauga Board of Education has placed a no new taxes renewal levy on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election. It is the second renewal of the $3.7 million, five-year emergency levy. The original emergency levy was passed in May 2007 and then renewed again in March 2012.
Unlike a continuing operating levy, which does not expire, an emergency levy is for a set period of time, usually five or 10 years, and must be renewed by the taxpayers at the end of its collection period. The renewal levy will be collected at an average of 5.8 mills for a period of 10 years.
West Geauga Local Schools continues to balance providing a quality education with a reasonable cost to the community. The current level of funding is needed to preserve the tradition of excellence the community has come to expect from its school district. This year, the district received the highest performance index rating in Geauga County and was 32nd out of the more than 600 school districts in the state of Ohio.
Funds raised from the renewal levy will continue to be used by the district to pay for normal operating expenses, such as salaries and benefits for teachers and support staff, gifted and special education programs, transportation costs, utilities and supplies. Over the past several years, the board has acted to contain rising costs by reducing the number of teachers to match student enrollment, joining an insurance consortium to stem rising costs in healthcare and using the state purchasing contracts to take advantage of statewide competitive bids on items like supplies, diesel fuel, utilities and bus purchases.
In 2013, two changes in law drastically affected homeowners. House Bill (HB) 59 eliminated the 12.5 percent residential property tax rollback on all new levies. In addition, the Ohio General Assembly modified the Homestead Exemption program by enacting a new income means test thereby limiting the homestead exemption qualifications for senior citizens. These two pieces of legislation affect new tax levies, but not affect those levies currently in place or renewal levies. In order to preserve the residential property tax rollback provisions and homestead exemptions for seniors, the board extended the $3.7 million emergency levy from five years to ten years. The extension will also help to combat levy fatigue felt by some of the voters.
Community information meetings are scheduled for Oct. 25 and Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. in room 124 of West Geauga High School.
Questions? Call a Board of Education member listed on the West Geauga Local Schools website: www.westg.org or call the district at 440-729-5900. The website also has information about past levies and the latest five year forecast approved by the board.
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