ENGLEWOOD — Northmont School Board President Linda Blum gave an impassioned account during their July 17 regular meeting of why the board needs to place their request to voters for an emergency levy on the November ballot.
“I move to approve the resolution and to proceed on the question of a 5.5 mill emergency tax levy for 10 years in the amount of $4,065,759 over those 10 years,” she said.
“I think it’s evident our financial picture is something that we look at all the time and watch very carefully that reductions we have already made and put in place, have brought us to this place where we are more able to not ask the public for what we did last time, but to ask them for millage of 5.5,” Blum said.
“We need to make it through our five-year forecast in a positive manner. So, this still doesn’t mean that any of the things we cut are coming back. This means we’re going to continue to watch every dollar that we spend,” Blum said.
She also brought up the Ohio School Boards Association Capitol Conference that, historically, all five school board members — Vice President Jane Woodie, Dr. Gerry Espeleta, Chris Pulos, Thomas Walker and herself, plus administration — have attended.
All of them were able to gain a lot of knowledge and network with other people to research what’s happening in other districts that Northmont might piggyback on or take away.
“It allowed us a lot of time to be proactive and to look ahead at some of the things that we might be interested in doing or pursuing. But it does cost thousands of dollars for us to go, even though it’s budgeted every year,” Blum said.
“I am of the opinion that this year, we should forego it, especially since Dr. Espeleta is going to the meeting representing CTC and he has agreed to give us a report on what goes on at that meeting,” she said.
Woodie agreed with Blum about the arrangement.
“While I’ll miss the camaraderie of that meeting, I do think it’s wise, because we have the levy coming up, that we forego it — that’s my feeling,” Woodie said.
With that, the board voted unanimously to place the levy on the November ballot.
“The community has always understood the need and I’m optimistic that this time will be the same,” Blum concluded.
District Treasurer Ann Ferraro reported that now that state funds have come in, the monies have been returned to the general fund to replace those that were used to fulfill obligations on time.
“And we actually did earn significant interest that we have not earned in years, because the interest rates have gone up,” Ferraro said.
The next regular meeting of the Northmont School Board will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 14, at Kleptz Early Learning Center, 1100 National Road, Englewood.
