Editor’s note: This story has been updated to more-accurately reflect the cost to property owners of a November bond issue and additional property tax levy. An earlier version stated the cost to property owners from the additional property tax levy would be $18 per $100,000 of valuation.
The total cost to property owners of the November bond issue and additional levy, however, would have been $359 per $100,000 of valuation.
The November bond issue did not pass.
LOUDONVILLE — The Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village Schools board approved a resolution Monday declaring the necessity of an income tax and bond issue — a move that will put a new pre-K-12 building on voters’ ballots for a second time.
Since the resolution declaring necessity passed Monday, the board will next have to pass a resolution to proceed to the board of election.
It will hold a special meeting at 7 a.m. on Jan. 17 to consider the next resolution.
“We certainly want the district to be in a good financial place, first and foremost, but I also want safe buildings for our kids,” Allerding said. “So we know that we have issues and we have things that need to be addressed, and this is the best way that we can do it.”
(Below is a PDF copy of the resolution passed by the board Monday.)
Should the new bond issue go to voters’ ballots, its approval would fund a $69.2 million new pre-K-12 building for Loudonville-Perrysville students.
It would come with a $41 million price tag for voters — a reduction of $12.5 million from an earlier attempt to pass a bond issue for the new building last November.
That new building would go at the site of Loudonville High School. The bond issue would also pay for the demolition of Budd and McMullen Elementary Schools, and parts of Loudonville High School, according to the resolution’s text.
Why is the district trying to fund a new building?
The district’s facilities were built more than 50 years ago. The newest building, the high school, was constructed in 1964. C.E. Budd School opened in 1926, while McMullen opened its doors in 1954.
The Loudonville-Perrysville school district passed a permanent improvement levy last March. That money goes toward maintenance and repair of buildings, grounds and equipment.
Allerding previously told Ashland Source the district has spent $509,000 annually to address maintenance and facility issues. That’s more than the permanent improvement levy generates.
A press release issued by Allerding last month stated the district has also cut operating costs. The release stated the district has “eliminat(ed) six positions and (is) continuing to review and assess staffing needs when retirements and resignations take place.”
November results
This new attempt at a bond issue comes on the heels of one voters rejected in November. That was a bond issue and property tax levy that would’ve had a cost to property owners of $359 per $100,000 of valuation.
Advocates for November’s bond issue framed the issue as one directly tied to the village’s future. Opponents worried it would have an outsized impact on their property taxes.
That bond issue garnered 43.87% of the vote, with 56.13% of voters against it.
Previous coverage of Loudonville-Perrysville’s levy attempts
“Obviously, we got a message from the community that that plan was not a plan that was feasible for them,” Allerding said. “So, we continue to have issues. We continue to have significant concerns of things happening in our buildings, so the need doesn’t go away.
“Part of it is my responsibility, then, to try to help to develop a plan that’s going to address those concerns, but also with the input of the community.”
Allerding said the day after the November election she began working on that new plan.
How is this levy different than the last one?
In November, the building’s total cost stood at $71 million. The district planned to chip in $2,306,493, and another $15,681,130 would come in funding from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. That left taxpayers to pay $53.5 million.
That’s compared to a $41 million price tag for voters on the new bond issue.
The state’s contribution through the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission would remain the same.
Allerding said the district would put forward $2,523,444. It also plans to use $970,000 it received from updated property valuations to take out certificates of participation for $10 million.
Certificates of participation allow an investor to purchase a share of lease revenues, rather than a bond securing those revenues. Typically, municipal governments use participation certificates to acquire real property, according to Investopedia.
Allerding said those certificates aren’t the most secure way to fund the project. That’s why it wasn’t the first resort option to go that route.
“But we’re in a spot where that’s not going to work in our community, so we need to try to tighten our belt and make things work so we can address these issues impacting our kids,” Allerding said.
The district also cut costs on the building by eliminating the following planned features:
- Removal of metal roof — $2.3 million
- Removal of district office space — $420,000
- Removal of rubber playground — $250,000
