ALBANY, Ohio — The Alexander Local School District plans another attempt at renewing its 1% income tax after voters shot down a first try in November.
Blake Regan, president of the Alexander Local School District Board of Education, said that the board plans to add the income tax levy renewal to the March 19, 2024 presidential primary ballot through a resolution at the next board meeting.
The board says it needs the tax to maintain current operations, while opponents say they just can’t afford it.
In the 2022–23 tax year, the income tax generated $2.21 million for the district, according to Ohio Department of Taxation data. In the 2020–21 tax year, the most recent available data, residents within the district reported $167.22 million in taxable income on 3,279 returns. Over 34% of the returns were filed by residents earning $50,000 per year or less.
Alexander Local School District Treasurer Kimberley Napper affirmed at the Nov. 9 board of education meeting that the district will see major changes if the tax is not renewed.
“Our revenue is flat,” Napper said.
The district’s five-year financial forecast predicts deficits starting in the 2026 fiscal year, rising to $1.3 million in fiscal year 2028, Napper said. The income tax and other levies would offset those deficits, she said; in FY28, the district would end the year with a $10.6 million surplus. Without that support, she noted, the balance would drop to less than $4 million in FY28.
“The cash on hand is your cushion,” Regan said at the Nov. 9 meeting.
“We cannot sustain what we are doing at the current level without the levy. That is 100% fact,” said board Vice President Jay Barnes at the Nov. 9 meeting. Napper affirmed: “Fact.”
Barnes continued, “If you look at Kim’s projections up to the next five years, we are in a pretty big deficit spending situation when we get to 2028. Now, we as a board, and administration, there’s gonna be changes. You can’t see this train wreck coming in 2028 and do absolutely nothing until then. … We have to make changes and rally behind the kids and try to support the levy next time.”
Barnes said at the meeting that he didn’t know what changes could come from the loss of income, but he anticipates there will be some.
One down, two to go
According to unofficial general election results, 53.05% of Alexander Local School District voters (which includes Athens, Meigs and Vinton County residents) turned down a five-year 1% income tax renewal. The district has two more attempts at its passage.
Albany Township was the only precinct that approved renewal, unofficial results show. Majorities in Lee and Lodi townships, New Marshfield and Waterloo voted no.
The precinct with the highest margin against the levy was Lodi Township, where 60.24% of voters voted no.
The tax’s renewal seems to be following the pattern of its original passage in May 2019, when the measure passed by one vote on a recount — after two failed attempts in 2018.
“And that was when it was the only thing on the ballot,” Regan said. “Unlike this past election, there were a lot of big issues on the agenda there.”
Athens County saw one of its highest off-year election turnouts in the 21st century in November, with 47.03% of registered voters participating. In the May 2019 primary, voter turnout was only 26.50%.
“And then we would have it back on the ballot again, the following November, if it weren’t to pass,” Regan said. “We have a tough community to pass levy in. We were well aware of the situation we were in.”
Although a tax levy may appear on the ballot in any election, it cannot go before voters more than three times in a year, according to the Ohio Secretary of State.
Kevin Martin, of Union, opposes renewal. A retired Alexander High School alum and owner of five properties in the district, Martin is concerned about rising property taxes while on a restricted income.
“My last child to attend the [district’s] School was in 1997,” Martin said in a text message. “I do not support the levy anymore because my property taxes go up and my pension doesn’t keep up with the increase in property taxes. … Eventually I can see where I’ll have to make decisions to eat and heat my home and pay living expenses over paying property taxes.”
Regan, however, said that old property tax levies will be “coming off people’s property taxes, so they’re actually going to get a reduction in the payment, even if this [income tax] levy passes.”
Records from the Athens County Auditor confirm this. The district currently has a total millage tax rate of 35.46; however, two of those levies total 1.76 mills and expire this calendar year, so the district’s total tax rate will drop for the 2023 tax year.
The deadline to register to vote in the March 2024 election is Feb. 20, 2024.
The next Alexander Local School District Board of Education meeting will be Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. in the Alexander High School library, 6125 School Road, Albany. Meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube.
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
