Tecumseh district voters will consider levies in November

NEW CARLISLE- Voters in the Tecumseh Local Schools district will be asked to vote on two levies during the upcoming November 2024 election.

Voters will be asked to renew an existing permanent improvement levy that was started in 1990 and last approved by voters in November of 2019, and approve a substitute levy that will combine two existing emergency levies into one.

“Both levies on the November 2024 ballot are no new taxes on existing residents,” Tecumseh Local Schools Levy Committee President Matthew Mills said. “This is no new money on anyone who is living here today.”

Mills discussed the levies during a presentation to members of New Carlisle City Council during their meeting held on Monday, Aug. 5.

The permanent improvement levy generates approximately $700,000 annually, Mills said, and the proposed substitute levy will replace a $712,000 emergency levy that is up for renewal in 2025, and a $2,106,389 emergency levy that was up for renewal this year. The substitute levy has a ten-year term.

“We are going to replace the two emergency levies that are on the books with a substitute levy,” Mills said. “The reason for the substitute is if you are living in a community that is having some amount of new construction growth, both residential and commercial, it allows for additional growth to be added on to that original fixed amount, but only on new homes and new businesses within the first term of the original passing of the levy.”

“It’s only growth on new construction,” he said. “All existing residents who live in the Tecumseh district, including all of your constituents in New Carlisle, pay the same, with no new taxes.”

“It is bringing in new people and adding them to the pot at the same rate that everybody else is paying currently,” Mills said. “The schools would see more revenue, but existing people would not pay anymore, and the people coming in would pay the same as everyone else is.”

Mills said passing the two levies in November is Phase I of a two-phase plan, and the district plans to approach voters again for additional funding at a later date.

“We are in Phase I of a two-phase strategic plan,” he said. “In Phase II, we will need to ask for new money. What that is, whether it’s a property tax, an income tax, or an emergency levy, has not been determined, but it will be on the ballot at some future date.”

Mills also described cost-cutting measures the district has taken in order to reduce expenditures, including the elimination of neighborhood schools, which saved the district approximately $1.4 million, and the elimination of several staff positions including five full-time teaching positions, an assistant high school principal position and an assistant superintendent position.

“The levy committee doesn’t want to just come to the community and say we need more money,” Mills said. “We want to show that we’ve been fiscally responsible with the money the community gives us, to point out the need for what we’re talking about.”

Mills said the district has also restructured copier, refuse and energy contracts, reduced PE, Industrial Technology and Art class offerings and work study programs, and eliminated the Arrow School of Advancement program.

“Everyone at the school hates to see a reduction in classes being offered,” he said. “Unfortunately, when times are tough and you have to make cuts, some of these things are the very first things that have to go.”

The district tried to pass income tax levies six times between 2004 and 2010, Mills said, and also attempted to pass property taxes five times from 2011 to 2013.

“The district tried to pass six income taxes from 2004 to 2010,” he said. “They all failed pretty miserably, so in 2011 the district decided to try something new and they went with a property tax.”

Mills also discussed the potential implications of two new housing developments planned for construction in New Carlisle.

“Some things we do know,” Mills said. “We do know that it is going to probably take about 10 years for both housing developments to be built, and we do know that it’s going to be roughly 650 homes, unless something drastically changes.”

“That’s 390 new students added to Tecumseh over the next ten years,” he said. “Tecumseh Local Schools can acquire new money from new construction, but it’s still not enough. New homes will increase the deficit spending, even with the new income.”

“New homebuyers want strong schools,” Mills said. “If I were looking for a home, I would not move to a place that’s got a school district that’s on the verge of fiscal disaster.”

More information can be found online through the Levy Committee Facebook page at www.facebook.com/people/Vote-for-Tecumseh-Local-Schools/61558892079008/.