Akron Superintendent David James told the school board on Monday that it should try for a new levy in March before it loses the momentum from a campaign that almost won earlier this month.
“I know it’s difficult to go through the winter months on a campaign, but to be honest with you, with our financial situation, we need to take every opportunity that we have available to us to try and pass something,” James said.
The effort to pass a 5.5.- mill levy fell short earlier this month by only 394 votes out of 46,497 votes cast.
Board member Amy Grom said people who may have sat on the sidelines last time around were motivated to get involved after seeing how close the district came.
Board member James Hardy said he was worried March might be too soon to ask donors again for campaign contributions. “My only caution is we need to make sure that our very, very, very generous business partners who fund these campaigns are on board still,” Hardy said.
The board will hold a special meeting at 8 a.m. Dec. 5 to decide whether to go on the ballot in March and determine how much to ask for. The board will have to meet again Dec. 6 at noon to confirm the levy request. Like last time, there is no realistic millage request that won’t also require steep cuts to operations.
Without a new levy, the district must cut $22 million in the next school year with more cuts that add up to $57.5 million over the next four years, according to treasurer Jack Pierson.
One mill of a new levy will bring in $2.44 million annually, according to the Summit County Auditor.
Asking for a 5.5-mill levy again would still require $22 million in cuts the first year if it passed, in part because the district wouldn’t start collecting on it until halfway through the next school year.
Passage of a 5.9-mill levy would still require $42 million in cuts over the next four years, which would be more than 10 percent of the district’s annual operating budget.
Even passing an 8.9-mill levy would require cutting $35 million over the next four years.
Meanwhile, Pierson must prepare a plan for the state by Dec. 30 showing how Akron will avoid a deficit next year. If Akron fails to submit an adequate plan, the state could put the district in fiscal caution.
Pierson said that situation would quickly change to fiscal emergency because the district likely would have to borrow money from the state to pay its bills. The plan can assume the passage of a levy next year. But Pierson said he won’t be able to include new revenue in the plan if the district slides into fiscal emergency.
“Once you’re in fiscal emergency, you can’t put in passage of a levy,” Pierson said. “It has to be all reductions.”
Board President Curtis T. Walker Sr. invited board members-elect Tim Miller and Patrick Bravo to sit in on the meeting Monday. They won’t have a vote until January, but he wanted them to know what to expect next year.
“We wanted you to understand the seriousness of our situation,” Walker said.
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.