Archbold school board mulls levy

5/10/2006

ARCHBOLD, Ohio - The Archbold Board of Education, which last week suffered what was perhaps its first operating levy defeat, is expected to decide late next week whether to put a tax request on the August ballot.

The board, which meets Monday, is expected to call a special meeting for later in the week to make a levy decision, said David K. Yoder, board president. In the meantime, the board is mailing response cards to the homes of registered voters in the school district, asking for their thoughts on another levy request.

An e-mail from the board went out yesterday shortly after the board concluded a 7 a.m. meeting. It says:

"As you know, on May 2 the voters in our school district defeated a 9.78-mill levy to maintain the operation of the Archbold Area Schools. If we do not put this levy back on the ballot in either August or November of this year, we will need to make budget reductions totaling $650,000 next year. These anticipated reductions will be in addition to $1.1 million in budget cuts that are already in place."

The e-mail goes on to ask for questions, comments, and suggestions by Tuesday. The board of elections filing deadline for the Aug. 8 special election is May 25. To put an issue on that ballot, the school board would need to meet twice: once to vote to ask for certification of a millage or income tax, and the second time to vote to put an issue on the ballot.

Archbold school district voters never before defeated an operating levy request in the 40 years for which the Fulton County Board of Elections has records. If the levy had passed last week, it would have raised an extra $2.4 million a year.