Lebanon school board seeking another levy

LEBANON, Ohio - The Board of Education for Lebanon City Schools is having a meeting on Tuesday to discuss placing another levy on the November ballot.

The district treasurer is expected to recommend an emergency tax levy for the board to approve. This would be the first step of the process to ask the community to vote on another levy. Once the board has the first approval, the county auditor reviews the request and finalizes the dollar amount for the tax levy.  The board then votes a second time to actually place the tax issue on the November ballot.

The community approved a renewal levy in 2010, but that did not change the tax level.  The district now says it needs additional revenue to offset a looming defict. 

The district tried in May for a levy valued at $6.5 million, but the community rejected the levy request. In reaction to the levy failure, the board in June voted to cut its budget.  It reduced spending by more than $3 million. Most of that came from concessions from staff. Teachers and support staff re-negotiated their contracts and accepted a pay freeze for both salary and step increases for three years.  Administrators also took a 3 percent pay cut.

The board must take the second step of the process before the August 10 deadline to get an issue on the November ballot.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the board office located at 700 Holbrook Ave.