Coldwater school board may try levy a second time

COLDWATER - School board members are considering putting a scaled-backed income tax levy on the Nov. 5 general election ballot after their first proposal was resoundingly defeated in March.

Board member Jack Waite at a public forum attended by about 60 residents on Wednesday night made the case for a second levy attempt, one that would bump up the existing 0.5% traditional income tax to 1%.

The levy proposal that was shot down by 71% at the March 19 primary election would have replaced the 0.5% traditional income tax with a 1.75% earned income tax, applying only to employee compensation and net earnings from self-employment.

The 0.5% traditional income tax levy was first passed by voters in 1999 and generates about $1 million annually, according to district treasurer Jenn McCoy.

"We do believe additional revenue is necessary," Waite said. "We're stable, we're happy to be stable, but we do need additional revenue to be able to tackle these challenges that we have in the not-too-distant future. We decided to put another one out in November. We're teachable. It's not going to be an earned income tax."

Also, Waite said moving forward, the district will set aside $600,000 each year to tackle replacing the chillers in the school HVAC.

At Tuesday's regular board meeting, McCoy projected deficit spending of $336,022 in fiscal year 2024, which ends June 30.

However, McCoy anticipated spending will return to the black in fiscal year 2025 with a net balance of $232,909 before dwindling to $27,234 in fiscal year 2028, according to her five-year forecast.

McCoy had said the forecast does not include any additional staffing for the middle school when larger classes are expected and also does not include unfunded priorities for infrastructure.

Under the current projection, the district will have cash on hand for 94 days in 2024, 96 days in 2026, 97 day in 2026, 96 days in 2027 and 100 days in 2028.

McCoy said that much will also depend on the state Legislature continuing to provide funding.

Mercer County will have its next update for property tax assessments in 2026, which will be collected in 2027.

"Any little changes could drastically change this," McCoy had said.

Waite affirmed Wednesday that the school district is stable, but in order to maintain that status will increase student fees by $120
and cap kindergarten enrollment at 140 students.

Waite said the enrollment cap will affect a very small number of people who open enroll.

"Right now we have spots (for up to 145 students)," he said. "Really the cap is only going to affect those that don't have other ties to (Coldwater). That's where we stand right now."

At April's regular board meeting, superintendent Doug Mader said he contacted Garmann Miller of Minster, Fanning Howey of Celina and SHP of Cincinnati for quotes for coming up with a potential maintenance plan for the school buildings.

The firms looked through the district's current business maintenance plan and all digital footprints from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission project.

Waite on Wednesday said Fanning Howey relayed to board members that their services would start at about $35,000. He added that they are still considering the services.

The district previously hired consulting companies in 2007 that strongly recommended setting aside $385,494.56 annually (based on 2007 dollars) to repair and replace major infrastructure items.

Utilizing the Consumer Price Index for inflation each year, the total accumulated amount needed today is $9,280,862.17. However, the district failed to put aside the funds recommended, school officials said.

Several attendees on Wednesday night suggested the board bring in a committee made up of community members with financial expertise to oversee school finances until the district gets back on its feet.

Waite said the concept was not practical. Board president Terry Schroyer said if he were an administrator, he'd find the idea insulting.

"Let's imagine that your boss comes to you one day and you've been doing this job for while and your boss says, 'I'm going to bring in some people from outside that have never done what you do. They don't know what you do, but they're going to overlook or look over your shoulder and they're going to tell me if you're doing your job right,'" he said. "If I were in Jen's shoes, I would look at that as a lack of confidence in my abilities."

The school board meets next at 6 p.m. June 25 in the CAV room.