3.9-Mill Schools Levy Will Be Part of the May Ballot
The Lakewood Board of Education passed the resolution Monday night.
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The Lakewood Board of Education took the final step toward putting a 3.9-mill levy on the May ballot Monday night.
The board has been discussing this possible levy for months—back in August, the district began surveying residents, asking whether they would support a levy and how much they would be able to afford.
After months of discussion, the board opted to put a traditional, 3.9-mill levy on the May 7 ballot. According to a press release from the board, the levy would cost homeowners $10 per month for $100,000 of home value, if passed.
The district has made spending cuts in recent years, but has also seen a decrease in property tax collections and in state funding. This is the lowest millage request since the 1970s, according to the district.
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1
8:39 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The city needs to liquidated all the empty schools, or somehow convert them to income producers.
Fix that before asking the tax-payer to hand over more money to be tossed down the drain.
The original Bill
11:28 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
They are looking into selling the old McKinley Elementary. I think the price the expect to get will be under $200,000. The budget for Lakewood Schools is nearly $70 Million, so that 200k will not go very far. Also I believe there are some state regulations dealing with the selling of old school buildings. I believe they must be first offered to a charter school group or a private school and the money must go into a special fund and not used for day to day expenses.. I also doubt there are many people beating down the door to buy them.
LvnLkwd
9:13 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
I agree with m.z.1. We also have to focus on the funding of salaries and pensions, http://www.tos.ohio.gov/Transparency. Yes teachers are important and I find importance in education of our children, however, the funding for pensions and raises need to be re-evaluated here in Lakewood. I have no children and am willing to fund education and have been doing so for 17 years here in Lakewood.
DLSJR
12:40 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
As a business person I agree that the schools need to take another look at their expenses. They have been sitting on a property for at least 4 years that was valued at 1.1 million last Nov. Plus they spend another $40,000 a year to maintain that vacant property. At least to me there are a few other vacant/unused looking school buildings in Lwood too. Did they account for 2013 property tax increase, and the new founding from the state that was just announced? Maybe they need to suffer until they get their spending inline before begging for more money to cover their current miss spending.
The original Bill
1:22 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
By law any increase in real estate taxes that come from increased valuation of property cannot be given to the schools. They are required to spend a set dollar amount coinciding with the value of the operating levy. In other words if your taxes go up because the value of your house goes up, the schools don't get a dime of that increase.
As far as the increase in funding announced by the state: go back and read the article again. Yes the state is increasing funding but it is not going to be given out equally to each school system. The poorer districts (which does not include Lakewood) are going to get the lions share. East Cleveland will be getting a big increase yet Beachwood will not see any of the increase.
1
5:00 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Will Someone post exactly how much money the 3.9 mil will raise? The total in dollars, not the cost per 100,000. of property value.
Once we see that - the real number - we can then start to pick apart the concept of lowering expenses and unloading or re-purposing the inventory of empty schools.
How about that The original Bill?
Rachel Abbey McCafferty
5:41 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
That's a good idea, m.z.1, and I'll be following up with those numbers.
The original Bill
5:18 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Rachel could you also find out exactly how much more money that Lakewood Schools are going to get with this "increased funding" from the state? And could you also correlate that amount with the amount that has been cut from the state in the last few years?
The original Bill
5:41 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
I'll answer one of my own questions. Lakewood will receive NO additional money for FY 2014 and an additional $329,000 for FY 2015. So all you people who think they should re work the levy request can mull over those figures.
http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2013/02/find_out_how_ohios_school_fund.html?appSession=805356803888402
Chris Olsen
6:55 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Vote No on any more levies....enough is enough
ian king
1:33 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Lakewood is living in the past. This is a city that is losing population, not gaining.
This is a city that has a very limited business community, it is not rapidly expanding.
This is a city with an aging housing stock that continues to look more dilapidated year by year. This is a city with a large aging population on fixed incomes. This is a city with a serious drug and crime problem on its eastern border of 117th St. I could go on and on. Lakewood is not as prosperous has it was in years gone by. Nor will those glory days likely return anytime soon. With very high property taxes already and also a hefty tax on your earned income, we the citizens need to say no to yet another tax burden. This is not about supporting schools. We all love our schools. This is about the need to get out of the old Rust Belt way of taxation. This is not just $ 10 a month. It is for most of us going to be over $ 200 a year x 3 years = over $600. = on top of more tax property/income increases most likely over that 3 year period of time also. ENOUGH! The school board needs to start to think out of the box. Vote down this tax increase and maybe we will finally see some action from the board/city to sell old empty schools, to review retiree pensions, and to start to put an action plan in place that accepts the reality that Lakewood is not a booming town anymore - there is NOT an unlimited tax stream to gather from its citizens every year.
1
4:52 pm on Thursday, February 7, 2013
I am voting NO.
I want see this city cleaned up from border to border east to west and south to north. Increase the desire to live in ALL areas of Lakewood and families will move in. Only then will support for the school levys will grow. As long as there are drugs/crime taking over, and no end in sight - forget your school levy.
And remember Lakewood, once you let your citizens/property owners down it takes years to recover. Work NOW for the reputation you want to have in the future. Work for all of Lakewood, not just "certain" neighborhoods.
The original Bill
9:30 pm on Thursday, February 7, 2013
Yeah! That'll show them. Screw the kids and the city will have no other choice than to clean up the streets.
Even though the schools are completely separate from city hall.