Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Levy Step 1.5: Further Discussion

At its meeting last night, the School Board voted 4-1, with me as the sole NO vote, to submit a Resolution of Necessity to the County Auditor, citing the need for a 6.9 mill levy to be placed on the May ballot. I made a subordinate motion that the Board postpone action on this Resolution until further due diligence could be completed. My motion died for the lack of a second.

However, there was agreement to hold a special meeting as soon as possible to further discuss this levy. The presumption is that there is still an opportunity to change the levy structure and/or amount prior to submitting the next required resolution to the Board of Election requesting that the levy issue be placed on the May ballot.

I've asked Treasurer Brian Wilson to check with the County Auditor and/or our Board's legal counsel to confirm that this is true, and to withhold submission of the Resolution of Necessity to the County Auditor until we get that answer. It could be that this is a one-shot process, and that a School Board gets to submit only one Resolution of Necessity each election cycle. We don't want to learn that after the Resolution has already been submitted.

Thank you to the many members of the community who came out to the School Board meeting last night. Your engagement in this process is crucial and appreciated. Please continue to communicate your feelings to the members of the School Board as we continue through this process.

4 comments:

  1. Quite the meeting last night! The open discussion between the Board and the audience was quite the shocker, but deeply appreciated by me at least. Although I did not speak, I took what I heard and composed an e-mail letter to all of the Board members this morning both thanking them for the exception in format and expressing my concerns regarding where the levy money is to go, and since the question came up, where the programs will go should the levy fail. I agree with Paul that they came up with the 6.9 mils only as a figure that they think has the best chance of passing - not a very realistic way to budget for an enterprise as large as the HCSD given the problems it is facing with funding. I'll be awaiting their replies - not that I expect, or even think I should expect, a direct answer but rather a response to the public in general. I look forward to the special meeting which Paul requested as I was not all that impressed with the other Board members responses to his feeling that "due diligence" has not been performed. I'm thinking they missed his point...

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  2. I am glad to see that Justin and EducateHilliard are trying to facilitate some more dialogue.

    I would like to hear some input from Hilliard realtors.

    Last weekend, my friend was babysitting his niece and nephew at their house on the eastern edge of the Olentangy SD near Alum Creek. Very similar neighborhood to my Hoffman Farms. Being the nosy person I am, when I got home I looked up the house on the Delaware County auditor's website.

    They got significantly more house for slightly more money than me. And their taxes were about $1k lower. And it's only marginally further from downtown.

    I think that Hilliard has a very active housing market under $225k. But my instinct is that Hilliard homes over $275k dont compete nearly as well. Another levy might widen the gap further.

    I dunno. Any experts out there with thoughts?

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  3. Paul - any news on the special meeting? Also, do you know what time the Educate Hilliard meeting starts on Tuesday evening?

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  4. The Special Board meeting is Friday at 3pm at the Central Office.

    The EducateHilliard meeting starts at 7pm, and will be held at the Safety Services Building.

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