Trending
CANFIELD -- The Board of Education made it official at its board meeting last week: Canfield's bond levy will not be on the March 2024 ballot.
Canfield Superintendent Joe Knoll said, "We won't be going on in March. The earliest we can go (back on the ballot) is November of 2024."
He explained the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) is the state entity that provides a percentage of new construction costs. The percentage is based on several criteria, including the wealth of a district.
In Canfield, the November 7.5-mill bond levy would have raised close to $105 million. The OFCC would have kicked in $16 million if the bond levy had passed.
The amount from the OFCC would have remained in play in March if the district wanted to continue to go after a new middle school, new elementary and renovations to the high school. The board would have had to make the choice before the Christmas break, but the decision was to not put it back on -- at least for now.
Knoll explained the OFCC funding is only good until October of 2024, then it expires. The district can come up with a new plan and re-apply for OFCC funds.
Canfield Schools Treasurer Patricia Prince said, "We may still get help from the OFCC, but we have no idea what it would be. It could be more or it could be less."
It also would depend on which direction the 2024 school board wants to go. They could go with the same program, or could cut back to replacing just the middle school.
Board member Nader Atway said, "We are handcuffed by the county auditor because the housing assessments won't be ready until January 2024."
He said voters were probably concerned over how much more their taxes would go up.
"I think all the people will be surprised by how small the increases will be," said board member David Wilkeson.
The board also adopted a five-year forecast at the meeting. Board member Robert Smallwood sat on the finance vommittee and helped review the forecast. He said the district will have a surplus in 2024.
"All our interest rates are north of 5%," Smallwood said. "Our interest generates over a million dollars a year."
He said 2025 is not that great, as the district will enter deficit spending.
"Eventually we will have to look at generating more income," he said. "We haven't had any new money for the past 13 years."
For 2023, the district expenses were at $30,010,480 and had a cash balance of $16,955,179. The new five-year forecast was not yet available on the Ohio Board of Education website and there were no numbers available at the meeting.
Both Wilkeson and Smallwood were attending their final meeting as there will be two new board members next year. Each man was given a parting gift and received a lot of praise from other board members and administrators for their service. Smallwood had two years on the board while Wilkeson has been a member for the past eight years.
Wilkeson also addressed the idea of having open enrollment to bring in more finances. He said the way the state has set it up, Canfield would not gain anything with open enrollment. In fact, he said it would end up costing more money.
On a different issue, resident Frank Micchia addressed the board regarding School Resource Officers.
"The schools are doing a good job with SRO coverage, but the two elementary schools are sharing one officer," Micchia said. "Would we be ok if the police only worked 50 percent of the time?"
He said each of the district's four schools should have an SRO 100 percent of the time.