By Khalila Perrin

1/30/2008

Suburban News

“How much?” and “For how long?” are just two questions members of the Columbus City Schools millage task force will have to answer before Aug. 21.

The 20-member group met with district Treasurer Michael Kinneer to brush up on levy lingo when it met for the first time Wednesday, Jan. 23, at the Columbus Education Center. Next on its agenda is coming up with the amount of money voters will be asked to approve in order to keep the district financially afloat.

The group is charged with deciding what type of levy the district will ask the Columbus Board of Education to place on the November ballot, along with the amount of money that will need to be raised to cover the district’s operating expenses. It also will consider funding mechanisms needed to begin the next phase of the district’s seven-phase, 15-year Facilities Master Plan.

Determining “how much money do we need to collect over what period of time” will be at the core of what the task force’s deliberations, Kinneer said. The district’s five-year forecast, which covers fiscal years 2008 through 2012, will form the basis of the group’s decision, he said.

The group reviewed figures from the forecast, but no one offered a guess as to how much funding voters would need to approve to keep the district operating in the black and moving forward on the Facilities Master Plan. Not getting voters’ approval for increased taxes this year might make fiscal year 2010 the last time the district will end the year with a positive cash balance, Kinneer said.

Forecasts show the district’s cash balance will be an estimated $12.6 million by June 2010. The amount would not cover one two-week pay period, which generally costs the district $14 million, said Kinneer.

The district currently racks up $650 million in expenses a year.

A review of the levy lingo provided options when it comes to how the board might approach voters in November.

Because a permanent improvement levy — generally used to generate funds to maintain or repair school property — can be either a property tax or a school district income tax, one avenue the task force will weigh is a possible income tax levy, though it would be a district first.

“We could talk about this,” Kinneer told the group.

Task force meetings are scheduled through late March, and the board must eventually make a presentation to the school board.

If the committee recommends an operating levy for the November ballot, the board will have to file its resolution of necessity with the Franklin County Board of Elections by Aug. 21. The deadline for submitting a combination issue is July 22.

The most recent levy voters passed was a 6.95-mill operating levy in November 2004. At the time, it cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $213 per year and raised the district $62.4 million per year, which was used to fund daily operation costs such as teacher and staff salaries, books, transportation, equipment, utilities and special programs.

Before that, voters passed a combined 2.96-mill bond issue and 0.5-mill permanent levy in 2002 to help fund the first two phases of the Facilities Master Plan. The bond issue is paying for the district’s local share of $391.8 million for the first two segments of the reconstruction and renovation program. The permanent improvement levy was expected to raise $4.1 million a year for maintenance.

The task force meets again at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, at the Columbus Education Center, 270 E. State St.

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