Oak Hills to place levy on May ballot - FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather & Sports

Oak Hills to place levy on May ballot

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CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -

On Wednesday, Jan. 23, the Oak Hills Local School Board passed a resolution to place an emergency 5-year 4.82 mill levy on the May 7 ballot.  

The levy will generate $5,275,000 annually for the next five years.

Oak Hills has not been on the ballot for an operating levy since 1997.

Oak Hills Treasurer Ronda Johnson and Superintendent Todd Yohey agree that the five-year emergency levy will provide the revenue necessary to maintain current programming.

"It is important to note that an emergency levy is a type of levy assessed for a fixed term. In our case, that would be five years. The new revenue will simply keep the district from deficit spending," Johnson said.

"Our Board of Education, along with our finance committee, has thoroughly analyzed our fiscal health," said Yohey. " For Oak Hills to continue its current level of operation, including the many opportunities available to our students, we need to ask our community for additional revenue. Oak Hills has not asked our community to support an operating levy since 1997 and conservative financial practices have allowed us to wait until now."

Property taxes and state revenue have been declining over the past seven years. In 2012 the district collected the same amount of property tax that they did in 1998.  

A 4.82 mill levy will cost homeowners $145.34 annually per $100,000 of valuation. Currently, Oak Hills' expenditure per pupil is the third lowest cost in Hamilton County.  The district has been rated Excellent for the last 11 years.

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