At their meetings on Monday, both Boards of Education approved resolutions to proceed with placing their respective levies on the May ballot.
CARLISLE
The Carlisle school board approved placing the renewal of an emergency levy that was first approved in May 2013 and in May 2018.
The emergency levy renewal will not increase taxes and can only generate a specific dollar amount, $993,222 a year, according to district Treasurer Dan Bassler.
The millage needed to generate that amount will be less due to the recent revaluation of property by the Warren County Auditor’s Office.
On the May 2 ballot, the millage will be 4.41-mills, which is down from the current 5.9-mills being collected for the same dollar amount.
This will cost a property owner about $154 per $100,000 of valuation, according to the county auditor’s office.
“Property values are up and the millage rates are lower,” Bassler said.
Emergency levies have a five-year limit and cannot be voted in permanently, he said.
Emergency levy revenues can only be used for operational expenses include salaries for all personnel, technology software and support, purchase of textbooks, and programming costs - such as gifted programs, special education programs, college credit plus programming, advanced placement and other academic programs. It also includes, but is not limited to supplies, materials and equipment, repair of buildings, maintenance costs for buildings, grounds and buses, utilities, and other similar costs.
FRANKLIN
The Franklin school board Monday approved placing a five-year, 13.92-mill substitute levy on the May 2, ballot which is a renewal and will not raise taxes.
If approved in May, the levy will generate $7.75 million a year and will cost a property owner $488 per $100,000 of property valuation, according to the county auditor’s office.
Last November, Franklin voters rejected a five-year, 13.92-mill substitute levy by a vote of 55% against to 45% in favor, according to final results from the Warren County Board of Elections.
Substitute levies do not raise tax rates on existing taxpayers, but allow the district to see revenue growth in future years, as the levy’s tax rates are applied to any new construction, district officials said.
“This is about 20% of our annual budget,” said Franklin Superintendent Michael Sander last fall. “We’re going to look at everything we do to see where cuts can be made and hoping to have the least impact on students, which is something the board is very good at.”
School Treasurer Kevin Hawley said the current substitute levy on the ballot was a renewal of a substitute levy last passed in 2018 that combined two previous levies into a single levy. He said the levy makes up about 21% of the school district’s budget, and mainly pays into the general fund, which pays for items like teachers’ salaries, electric bills and other day-to-day items.
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