5.9-mill levy for schools on Oregon ballot in November

Voters in the Oregon City School District will see a 5.9-mill levy request on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The Board of Education approved the tax request for the school system Wednesday night by a 5-0 vote. The emergency operating levy, if approved, would extend for five years, generate about $3.4 million annually, and cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $182 a year.

In a blunt preamble to the vote, Superintendent Mike Zalar said approval of the levy was essential if the district was to regain financial stability.

He said the Oregon district, with an operating budget of about $40 million, has lost more than $10 million with the state's phasing out of the personal tangible property tax on business. The district has slashed costs by $2 million in 2006 to 2007 school year and by $1.5 million in 2007 to 2008.

In 2009, it laid off 32 teachers as part of a $3.5 million cost-cutting campaign, Mr. Zalar noted, and it trimmed an additional $1.3 million in the past school year through a wage freeze and reduction in benefits to employees.

"We don't have the luxury of waiting [to ask for the new tax]," he told the board, adding that the state and federal governments would not be offering a bailout.

Mr. Zalar said passage of the levy would not eliminate the need for further restructuring and cost cutting, nor would it result in the recall of laid-off employees.

Without new revenue, the district faces a $2 million operating deficit at the end of the 2011-12 school year, Treasurer Jane Fruth said. Board President Diane Karoly said the schools were in need of community support.

An identical levy request was rejected last August. Mr. Zalar said the pro-levy campaign this year would be better coordinated. He said the administration was preoccupied with labor negotiations last summer and layoffs, and it lacked the time make a convincing case for the levy.

Contact Carl Ryan at

carlryan@theblade.com

or 419-724-6050.