B-C-S officials expect to put levy back on ballot

OAK HARBOR - The Benton-Carroll-Salem Local School District is likely to be back on the ballot after an income tax levy again failed to pass, as school officials say they still need to make up millions in lost funding from the devaluation of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station.

“We’re pretty disappointed for our community and our students, especially,” said Guy Parmigian, superintendent of Benton-Carroll-Salem. “But we’re not going to hang our heads for too long because this school district — there’s too many great things to fight for here, too many great things going on with academics, with athletics and music, across the board.”

The district first tried to pass the five-year, 1-percent earned income tax in the May primary, and after voters rejected that proposal the district tried again in Tuesday's general election.

It would have generated approximately $1.989 million annually for the school district’s operating expenses, according to the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Along with the five-year, 3.89-mill property tax levy, which voters in the district did approve in May and which will generate about $1.4 million annually, the funds were meant to make up for some of the $6 million in revenue lost, primarily from the devaluation of Davis-Besse.

“The need is still there. The need has not gone away,” Parmigian said. “We have to raise the revenue and we’ll be communicating that in the near future.”

But now that voters have twice rejected the 1 percent earned income tax, school officials may consider some other form of levy, such as a property tax or possibly a combination of an income tax and a property tax.

“Our board will have to wrestle with those questions and figure out how to make up the needed revenue, which is $1.9 million a year,” Parmigian said. “We’re going to regroup and we’ll be back on the ballot soon.”

Not going backward

The effort will be focused on not going backward for the sake of Benton-Carroll-Salem students.

“You can’t cut your way out of this hole without catastrophically eliminating people — laying people off, which means eliminating drastic numbers of programs for kids,” Parmigian said.

That could be significant cuts to or completely dropping things like art club, music, electives and, likely, bigger class sizes.

B-C-S has made significant cuts before. In 2012, the school district reduced 40 positions.

“It was gut-wrenching,” Parmigian said. “But our administrators and our staff had come together and realized, don’t complain about it, we have to do more with less.”

Prior to those cuts, the district’s salaries totaled $11.5 million in 2012. After the cuts, the salaries were down to a total of $9.7 million. B-C-S has since maintained that level and last year still had salaries totaling $9.7 million.

“To make that happen, to keep those salaries the same, it was painful. We don’t complain about it. We did more with less,” Parmigian said. “That means being more innovative. That means doing things a little bit different here at B-C-S than they’re done next door.”

While payroll is the primary expense of a school district, he said, the employees, in turn, are what drives its success.

Parmigian feels there is something special in the people at Benton-Carroll-Salem and, with all of the uncertainty surrounding Davis-Besse, why not double down on the school district as an anchor of the community.

Sense of urgency

B-C-S has received some financial assistance from the state level after devaluation of the nuclear plant with the “Arndt-Gardner B-C-S Bridge” amendment, which was approved by the legislature in late March and is estimated to provide an average of $1.85 million per year over the next three years, totaling $5.5 million.

But as the legislation’s name suggests, it was merely meant as a bridge until revenue from both proposed levies could be fully collected. If the 1 percent earned income tax passed on Tuesday, full implementation would have started in 2021, the same year the financial assistance from the state will expire.

“It would have been a perfect transition if it would have passed Tuesday, but now we’re more up against the wall in a financial way,” Parmigian said.

While there is a sense of urgency, the long-term vision for the school district remains being financially conservative and finding ways to do more with less.

“To be fiscally conservative, you’ve got to have that innovative piece together with it because we don’t want to go backward,” he said. “We’re all united in our belief that we’re on a good path forward, providing the best opportunities for our kids. And our kids in B-C-S deserve it.”

If levies continue to be rejected, the State of Ohio is not going to let a school district run in the red for too long, according to Parmigian. He cited the mergers between Berkshire and Ledgemont in Geauga County along with Old Fort and Bettsville in Seneca County as examples.

“That’s not something that’s going to happen tomorrow, but if we can’t find a way to secure our financial future, it’s a possibility,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with Davis-Besse, but we do know strong school districts in communities matter.”

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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Twitter: @JonDBN