CONNEAUT — A renewal levy to help the Conneaut Area City Schools district stay atop its technology and textbook needs will come before voters in the Nov. 5 general election.
The 1.5-mill permanent improvement levy would raise an estimated $220,000 each year of its five-year lifespan. The levy would cost a resident with property valued at $100,000 about $53 a year.
A renewal levy means no additional tax will be charged.
Money raised by the measure benefits four specific purposes: transportation, textbooks, technology and building maintenance. Revenue is not used for salaries and benefits.
The district wants to concentrate on the technology and textbook side of the ledger with evy money if the measure is approved, said Lori Riley, CACS superintendent.
“We plan to move forward [in those areas],” she said.
School officials bolstered the bus fleet earlier this year with two new vehicles – one that carries 77 passengers, the other 72 passengers. A grant from the Environmental Protection Agency shaved upwards of $20,000 from the price of each vehicle, resulting in a combined purchase price of $167,000, officials said in the spring.
The school district repeatedly applied for the EPA before finding success this year, Riley said. The effort shows that officials are trying hard to spend taxpayers’ dollars wisely, she said.
“We’re dedicated to being good stewards of that pot of money,” Riley said.
The district’s four school buildings — three of them erected 15 years ago as part of a multi-million dollar, state-backed facility improvement program — are in good shape, officials said.
Voters have routinely approved the district’s permanent improvement renewal levy, according to Ashtabula County Board of Election records. In 2016, the last time the levy was introduced, it passed with 64 percent of the ballots cast.
