Fairfield voters rejected a new operating levy Tuesday night by 55% to 45% margin, 6,406 to 5,274, according to unofficial results from the Butler County Board of Elections.
The defeat of the proposed 6.9-mill continuing operating school tax now triggers a series of program, personnel and transportation budget cuts planned to be in place by the start of the 2024-2025 school year in August.
It was the first operational levy tax vote in the 10,000-student district since voters approved a levy in 2011.
The next steps for district, which enrolls students from the city of Fairfield and the adjacent Fairfield Twp., will also include talk of a new levy ballot issue later this year.
“The previously announced cuts with staffing and transportation services will be implemented with the start of the (next) school year,” said Fairfield Schools Spokeswoman Gina Gentry-Fletcher.
“The next steps for a future levy will be discussed with the board of education in the near future,” she said Wednesday.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Ohio election law requires local school boards to decide on and file for the November ballot by early August.
Budget cuts planned for next school year include:
*Elimination of five teaching positions at the middle schools
*Elimination of four and one-half teaching positions at the freshman and high school campus
*Elimination of three positions in the curriculum and instruction department
*Elimination of one administrative position, and
*Reduction of bus transportation to state minimums, which would eliminate transportation services for general education students in grades 9 and 10, including non-public and community schools.
Only those students whose residence is more than two miles from their school, including non-public and community schools, are eligible for transportation regardless of sitters, daycares, etc.
The district will also explore the potential to declare transportation to certain non-public and community schools impractical, school officials said.
Fairfield school officials announced early in 2023 the district was facing a projected $11 million budget deficit.
If approved, the new school tax would have raised the annual property tax for a $100,000 home by $242 with new tax beginning to be collected from local property owners as of Jan. 1, 2025.
A ballot victory would have generated $15.9 million annually and would have kept the district financially solvent through June 30, 2029, said school officials.
Liberty Twp.
Liberty Twp. voters approved a renewal of the existing police levy with an increase of .03 mills for a total of a 3.55-mill levy, according to Tuesday night’s unofficial results from the Butler County Board of Elections.
The levy will continue indefinitely instead of the current 5-year renewal rate.
Nearly 68% of the voters approved the levy with 4,502 votes for the levy and 2,099 voting against.
In December, Liberty Twp. trustees passed legislation to place the police levy renewal plus the added millage on the ballot to support the contract with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and plan for future growth.
The increase will cost residents an additional $10.50 annually for a house valued at $100,000.
Based on the 2024 tax rates, the cost of the existing police levy is $49.80 for a $100,000 home. With the levy passing, that will bring the total cost of the police levy to $60.30 per $100,000 home, according to officials.
For more than two decades, the township has contracted with BCSO for dedicated police coverage. Twenty-nine contracted positions operate out of the substation in the township administrative offices on Winners Circle Drive, according to township officials.
The township’s population is about 44,000. In 2023, the BCSO received 37,638 calls for service. As the community’s population has grown, calls for police services have increased. The four-year total for calls for service is 122,730 calls from 2020 to 2023.