St. Marys school tax issue OK'd

ST. MARYS - Voters on Tuesday approved the school district's 1 percent earned-income tax levy issue.

The levy passed with more than 55 percent support, according to unofficial results, with 3,082 votes for the levy and 2,541 against.

District officials were poised to make deep budget cuts if the measure had failed, but superintendent Bill Ruane said Wednesday's board of education meeting would focus on bringing the divided community back together.

"We'll be celebrating many of our student achievements over the past month. We have a lot of really good, positive things coming out of the school system to celebrate," Ruane said. "Moving forward, levies and elections create a little bit of division in the community, so hopefully as a community we are able to come together and celebrate these achievements and accomplishments of our young people and try to unify again."

In May, the district had asked for a 1.5 percent earned-income tax to help avoid more deficit spending. That levy was rejected by nearly 61 percent of district voters.

"We're just extremely appreciative of the St. Marys community for supporting our students and school system," Ruane told the newspaper. "I'm mostly excited for our kids who will continue to have the great learning opportunities in academics, arts and athletics, which are all important and are all fundamental in shaping students into the young adults they are when they leave our school system. So I think it's important that as a community we support the whole kid, and it's just great they will continue to have those opportunities."