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“We are confident the community will support this levy request to maintain the investment in our historic buildings and augment technology resources in our classrooms,” Board President Mike Miller said.
Renewing the levy would not increase taxes on residents.
Though the name would indicate otherwise, the permanent improvement levy is also not “permanent;” residents have the opportunity to vote on its continuation every five years.
Oakwood voters first passed the levy in 1978. If approved, the levy will generate approximately $513,000 a year, which can be used for projects including roof repairs, plumbing, electrical, cabling, sidewalk and parking lot maintenance, replacement of older computers and furniture.
“Can I tell you exactly what we’re going to spend it on? No,” Oakwood School District treasurer Kevin Philo said. “But I can tell you the group of things that it’ll be spent on in terms of what’s a priority or what’s a need.”
Oakwood schools have already seen several improvements to the school’s infrastructure and security system with money generated from the levy’s past renewals.
New desks, lockers and a motorized wheelchair ramp are just some of the more visible improvements to the high school alone.
Down in the bowels of Oakwood High School sits two, 40-year-old boilers that Philo says will need to be replaced in the next five years.
“That’s one of those things you probably don’t think of when you think of schools and what happens in the classroom, but these pipes and boilers the types of things that are covered by infrastructure,” he said.
According to Philo, anything purchased by the district with money generated from the levy must have a shelf-life that lasts five years or more and cannot be used for salaries or other operating expenses.
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