LOVELAND, Ohio — After years of failed levies, the Loveland City School District is putting another levy on the May ballot. If it doesn't pass, the district is facing the first step of the state fiscal distress process.
It's a 4.9 mill operating levy, which means if it's passed, property taxes would increase by $172 for every $100,000 of a home's assessed value.
“The time is now that we have to support our schools," said Lynn Mangan, a community member working to get the levy passed.
Mangan said if the levy doesn't pass, it'll have negative consequences for the community, like current residents moving out of Loveland or people who might have considered moving to Loveland choosing to call somewhere else home.
Loveland Superintendent Mike Broadwater said the consequences of another failed levy for the school district would mean entering the first phase of Ohio's fiscal distress process.
“At the end of the day, my role as the leader of the district is to let the community know, we’re going to lose a lot of services if we don’t have additional funding," he said.
He also said it would mean less local control for the district.
"We've gone through cuts already, about 47 staff positions, we cut high school bussing," Broadwater said.
Mangan's son is a junior at Loveland High School and she said he's noticed the impact of the cuts already made.
“He said, 'I don’t understand ... I see what my teachers do, I see what my coaches do for the activities,' and he is very concerned," she said.
Steve Ellis also has kids who went through the Loveland School District, but he and his wife are retired now and they plan to vote no in May.
“It’s going to be more tax money and we’re living on a fixed income so we only have so much money to spend and so much money to allocate," he said.
After living in the same house near downtown Loveland for more than 50 years, Ellis has voted for levies in the past, but this time, he said it just doesn't make sense for his family.
"I just want everybody to know that the people who are voting no are sympathetic to the schools," Ellis said.
The levy will be on the ballot in the May 2 election for Loveland voters.
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