ELIDA — Elida schools will host a community forum next week to discuss an emergency levy set to expire in 2025.
The emergency levy is the school district’s largest property tax levy, generating $2.7 million per year or 11% of all revenue for Elida schools.
The Elida school board may ask taxpayers to increase the levy when it is renewed next year to offset a projected deficit.
Treasurer Larry Kaiser previously presented board members with a few options to bring in additional funds from the levy:
• No change: taxpayers would continue to pay $173.13 per $100,000 in assessed value of their properties.
• Increase levy by $300,000, which would cost an extra $19.25 per $100,000 in assessed value for a total of $192.38 per $100,000 in property.
• Increase levy by $500,000 (0.94 mills), which would raise tax bills by $32.88 for every $100,000 in property for a total of $206.01 per $100,000 in property.
• Increase levy by $800,000 (1.5 mills), which would cost taxpayers an additional $52.50 per $100,000 in assessed value for a total bill of $225.63 per $100,000 in assessed value.
• Increase levy by $1 million (1.87 mills), which would raise tax bills by $64.52 per $100,000 in property for a total of $237.65 per $100,000 in assessed value, according to estimates provided to Elida schools by the Allen County auditor.
The earliest any proposed change to the emergency levy will come before voters is spring 2025, which would give the district two chances to renew the levy before it expires.
The board did not take a vote on the proposed changes during its September or October board meetings.
Kaiser told board members during their September meeting that the district’s costs have increased by 61% since voters last approved an increase to the emergency levy in 2005.
Meanwhile, Kaiser said Elida’s five-year forecast shows the district will be operating with a negative cash balance by fiscal year 2027.
Superintendent Joel Mengerink said in September that the district eliminated a business manager position prior to the pandemic, saving Elida schools an estimated $90,000 to $100,000 each year, but there’s “not a whole lot of fluff left.”
About 80% of the district’s budget pays for salaries, wages and benefits.
Elida schools could see an additional $1 million in state funding per year if Ohio’s fair school funding formula is fully phased in through the next state operating budget, which lawmakers will vote on next July. According to Kaiser, Elida schools currently receives 66% of what the state says it costs to operate a school district.
The district will host a community forum about the levy at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Elida Elementary School cafeteria, 300 Pioneer Road, Elida.
