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Group may contest district bond issue

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By Ryan Gauthier, Staff Writer 7:12 PM Tuesday, June 9, 2009

REILY TWP. — Some area residents are weighing options to stop construction at the new Talawanda High School.

Around 150 people packed the Reily Community Center this week to listen as Mike Schnipper outlined several potential ways to overturn a 4.7-mill property tax passed last November. Schnipper, an Oxford resident, proposed forming a Political Action Committee and attempting to repeal the bond issue, either through a lawsuit or by placing an issue on ballots.

“If the PAC feels they want to proceed, we will sue both the city of Oxford and the Talawanda School District,” he said. “We’ll ask for injunctions against the construction start, ask for a stay on any additional expenditures concerning that construction and we’ll sue the city of Oxford for an injunction against annexing the property into the city limits until the suit is resolved.”

Already upset at the impact Miami University students had on the past election, Schnipper said he felt something needed to be done when he heard the school district planned to contest the Butler County auditor’s decision to lower property values for area residents.

“Why did the school board file a counterclaim? Greed,” Schnipper said. “They want the levy money based on those artificially-inflated property values people were getting. They’re here for the bucks, baby.”

Superintendent Phil Cagwin admitted the district contested several property value assessments, but said Schnipper failed to mention that the only evaluations appealed were those of rental and commercial properties.

“We were contacted a number of years ago by the county auditor, who let us know that many of our neighboring school districts routinely appeal property values that are under-inflated,” Cagwin said. “At that time the board decided to go ahead with appealing only profit-making properties.”

Many audience members voiced support for holding a special election during the summer, as the majority of Miami students would not be in town.

“A special election would depend on when we want to schedule it, but it would be after the November vote,” Schnipper said. “We could figure out the graduation date and have it the Tuesday after.”

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