School Levy's and property taxes.

T

Tesoro

Well-known member
Just discussion on school Levy's.

How would you feel if after your real estate taxes went up 40 percent in one year, your school system puts a PERMANENT!!! 1.75 mill levy on the ballet two months after you received your real estate tax bill? To spell that out in real numbers....I paid $2200.00 on my $395000 house last year....my bill this year was $3100.00. If this levy passes, I will be paying an additional $1200.00 (or more) inot the school system every year until the day I retire.

They just can't get enough.
 
 
Nobody likes to pay taxes, obviously. I have worked for a county agency for the last 20 years and we have to run levies to continue providing services, so I kind of look at levies a bit differently now. Unfortunately, just like everthing else in our country, prices to operate a school system and other county agencies have increased. I think you need to determine if your school a "good steward" of those taxes. I've never voted against our local school levy. They provided a pretty good education for me, my wife and my 4 boys. Good schools are often a reflection of a strong city. But I also understand the other side where some folks just can't afford the increases or feel the schools are wasteful.
 
Lots of things have made education more expensive. I think the biggest are IEP's (Individual Education Plans) and 504 Plans for students who are Learning Disabled. Forty years ago those did not exist, and our local high school had zero Intervention Specialists, tutors, paras, and aides for those students. Today that is by far the largest department in our high school.

Someone else said this and I didn't believe it, so I checked. Adjusted for inflation, teachers make less now than they did 50 years ago, and the cost of a college education has gone up much greater than the rate of inflation.

And despite what many think, schools pinch pennies. I worked with a few people who started in the private sector and switched careers. They were surprised.

Christmas bonus? hohohohohohohohoho

Pens and a note pad? You get 12 of each for the year, maybe.
 
Boy this will get some run. This is the old beating a dead horse argument. One of the major issues with taxes, levies and schools is that the levies only affect property OWNERS. So all those people that live in your district that rent, do not pay school levies because they own no property To me there are so many renting now there needs to be some kind of system where you don't just soak property owners. And this is the catch 22 for property owners, we WANT our properties to be worth more, other than at tax time.
You can give your school district an blank check for money and it still would never be enough. They will spend what they have. So as a district you have to balance that line. And no one is sentenced to where they live, you can always move to another district fits your ideas for school funding.
I feel for you though Tesoro, that's a tough year for you.
 
Tesoro said:
Just discussion on school Levy's.

How would you feel if after your real estate taxes went up 40 percent in one year, your school system puts a PERMANENT!!! 1.75 mill levy on the ballet two months after you received your real estate tax bill? To spell that out in real numbers....I paid $2200.00 on my $395000 house last year....my bill this year was $3100.00. If this levy passes, I will be paying an additional $1200.00 (or more) inot the school system every year until the day I retire.

They just can't get enough.
Click to expand...
That is all I needed to read.

Are you one of those who has been smearing the Super on Social Media and the Letter to the Editor?
 
Yeah, I am not voting for another levy for the foreseeable future. These school districts need to make something else work, or do more with less because using the taxpayers as an ATM is not cutting it.
 
14Red is right this thing can go sideways really quick, especially if the teachers/coaches that peck around the HS sports forums see this thread.

As a person who lives in the highest taxed district in the state, Shaker Heights, I can sympathize. Last fall the district just rammed through a bond and levy package to a combined total of just shy of 10 mils. I guess I get the levy because fixed costs, mostly personnel, go up but the bond issue for facility upgrades with no buildings closing when the enrollment will be declining in the coming years is a real head scratcher. The schools have this "feed the beast and figure out things later" mentality and it has to end. That have to be more forward thinking and make some hard choices because folks living on a fixed income do not see the types of COLA increases to cover these larger tax asks. And if you think you are immune because you are renting that is a false narrative, landlords will just increase the rent to cover the new taxes.
 
chs1971 said:
Lots of things have made education more expensive. I think the biggest are IEP's (Individual Education Plans) and 504 Plans for students who are Learning Disabled. Forty years ago those did not exist, and our local high school had zero Intervention Specialists, tutors, paras, and aides for those students. Today that is by far the largest department in our high school.
Click to expand...
You have been around a while, iirc. How many of these expensive programs began with sunsetting federal grants that get a community adjusted and some hires made, only to leave the next classes hanging with “what about me?”?
chs1971 said:
Someone else said this and I didn't believe it, so I checked. Adjusted for inflation, teachers make less now than they did 50 years ago, and the cost of a college education has gone up much greater than the rate of inflation.

And despite what many think, schools pinch pennies. I worked with a few people who started in the private sector and switched careers. They were surprised.

Christmas bonus? hohohohohohohohoho

Pens and a note pad? You get 12 of each for the year, maybe.
Click to expand...
 
chs1971 said:
Lots of things have made education more expensive. I think the biggest are IEP's (Individual Education Plans) and 504 Plans for students who are Learning Disabled. Forty years ago those did not exist, and our local high school had zero Intervention Specialists, tutors, paras, and aides for those students. Today that is by far the largest department in our high school.
Click to expand...
You should do a quick check on the number of “assistant principals,” administrators, “central office” employees, etc. who are making six figures today and compare that to the past. At least intervention specialists and aides are working in classrooms to educate students. That other group spends their days doing nothing but inventing new ways to justify their inflated salaries.
 
EHS 2001 said:
You should do a quick check on the number of “assistant principals,” administrators, “central office” employees, etc. who are making six figures today and compare that to the past. At least intervention specialists and aides are working in classrooms to educate students. That other group spends their days doing nothing but inventing new ways to justify their inflated salaries.
Click to expand...


While I’m sure there certainly are some examples of this, it’s also a gross generalization. Some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met would fall into that other group.
 
Last edited:
EHS 2001 said:
You should do a quick check on the number of “assistant principals,” administrators, “central office” employees, etc. who are making six figures today and compare that to the past. At least intervention specialists and aides are working in classrooms to educate students. That other group spends their days doing nothing but inventing new ways to justify their inflated salaries.
Click to expand...
No, they do not.
 
40% in one year is a heck of a jump. That being said, I’ve never voted no on a school levy, and we sent our kids to private schools their whole lives. Good schools mean better real estate values, however.
 
Thavoice said:
That is all I needed to read.

Are you one of those who has been smearing the Super on Social Media and the Letter to the Editor?
Click to expand...
Nope...no need for that. Just have to stick with facts. No smearing needed. For the record, I wouldn't and don't agree with that. I think he means well and is a good enough guy. He just trusts his treasurer too much and would rather be around the kids than working on another levy in five years. (his words..not mine)
 
Last edited:
soccerdad72 said:
40% in one year is a heck of a jump. That being said, I’ve never voted no on a school levy, and we sent our kids to private schools their whole lives. Good schools mean better real estate values, however.
Click to expand...
Does having to pay an additional $1200.00 more into your school than neighboring schools want to make you move into the neighborhood?
 
14Red said:
Boy this will get some run. This is the old beating a dead horse argument. One of the major issues with taxes, levies and schools is that the levies only affect property OWNERS. So all those people that live in your district that rent, do not pay school levies because they own no property To me there are so many renting now there needs to be some kind of system where you don't just soak property owners. And this is the catch 22 for property owners, we WANT our properties to be worth more, other than at tax time.
You can give your school district an blank check for money and it still would never be enough. They will spend what they have. So as a district you have to balance that line. And no one is sentenced to where they live, you can always move to another district fits your ideas for school funding.
I feel for you though Tesoro, that's a tough year for you.
Click to expand...
What you say is true.

This one's worse....its an earned income levy. Meaning....if you live in the district and have no earned income...you can vote for your working neighbor to pay in, while you don't have to.
 
chs1971 said:
Lots of things have made education more expensive. I think the biggest are IEP's (Individual Education Plans) and 504 Plans for students who are Learning Disabled. Forty years ago those did not exist, and our local high school had zero Intervention Specialists, tutors, paras, and aides for those students. Today that is by far the largest department in our high school.

Someone else said this and I didn't believe it, so I checked. Adjusted for inflation, teachers make less now than they did 50 years ago, and the cost of a college education has gone up much greater than the rate of inflation.

And despite what many think, schools pinch pennies. I worked with a few people who started in the private sector and switched careers. They were surprised.

Christmas bonus? hohohohohohohohoho

Pens and a note pad? You get 12 of each for the year, maybe.
Click to expand...
We all make less than we did 50 years ago when you adjust for inflation.
 
Tesoro said:
How would you feel if after your real estate taxes went up 40 percent in one year, your school system puts a PERMANENT!!! 1.75 mill levy on the ballet two months after you received your real estate tax bill? To spell that out in real numbers....I paid $2200.00 on my $395000 house last year....my bill this year was $3100.00. If this levy passes, I will be paying an additional $1200.00 (or more) inot the school system every year until the day I retire.
Click to expand...
I feel your pain, my prop tax uppage was also close to 40%. And I get what you're saying, somewhat to being told in the past how restaurant tipping was 20%, and now it's supposedly 25-30% on top of greatly boosted menu prices, and then the restaurants are tacking on "service fees" on top of that.

Okay, not a great analogy - you don't have to go out to eat, but you do have to pay taxes - but you get the point. Just have to decide what you're willing to bear without moving out of your district. It's a fact some of them seem to want regular increases, while others get by on slimmer. budgets. I'm fortunate in that our district is among the lowest tax rate in the county, we haven't had a levy in years, plus we don't have have a separate school income tax - yet.

All I can say, keep 'em honest. And when you find an effective superintendent and treasurer, you hang on to them for dear life.
 
Last edited:
Zunardo said:
I feel your pain, my prop tax uppage was also close to 40%. And I get what you're saying, somewhat to being told in the past how restaurant tipping was 20%, and now it's supposedly 25-30% on top of greatly boosted menu prices, and then the restaurants are tacking on "service fees" on top of that.

Okay, not a great analogy - you don't have to go out to eat, but you do have to pay taxes - but you get the point. Just have to decide what you're willing to bear without moving out of your district. It's a fact some of them seem to want regular increases, while others get by on slimmer. budgets. I'm fortunate in that our district is among the lowest tax rate in the county, plus we don't have have a separate school income tax - yet.

All I can say, keep 'em honest. And when you find an effective superintendent and treasurer, you hang on to them for dear life.
Click to expand...
Can I ask what district? If not...demographics of school?
 
Tesoro said:
Can I ask what district? If not...demographics of school?
Click to expand...
Hamilton Local in southern Franklin county, about 3000 students. Encompasses a part of Columbus, plus Obetz, two villages, and Hamilton township. Quickly changing from rural-suburban to Short North-like status, lol.
 
Schools are a need. The better they are, the better for our community, local and national. They are the most expensive item that we actually get to vote on. People are reluctant to vote to spend money out of their own pocket. I get it.

Much of what the federal government spends money on is not needed. We throw money at foreign people who hate us. We fund illegal immigration. We fund research on viruses that do nothing but kill us. Congress funds an endless list of feel-good programs. Local government here is still trying to figure out how to spend all our covid relief money. None of the projects being considered have anything to do with relief from the damage done by covid. It's free money though. We don't have to pay for it. Nobody ever votes to turn down free money from the government.
 
chs1971 said:
Schools are a need. The better they are, the better for our community, local and national. They are the most expensive item that we actually get to vote on. People are reluctant to vote to spend money out of their own pocket. I get it.
Click to expand...
Spot on.

Ohio needs to figure out a better way to fund its PUBLIC schools. What has been now? Three times the state supreme court has ruled that the current model is unconstitutional.
 
14Red said:
Boy this will get some run. This is the old beating a dead horse argument. One of the major issues with taxes, levies and schools is that the levies only affect property OWNERS. So all those people that live in your district that rent, do not pay school levies because they own no property To me there are so many renting now there needs to be some kind of system where you don't just soak property owners. And this is the catch 22 for property owners, we WANT our properties to be worth more, other than at tax time.
You can give your school district an blank check for money and it still would never be enough. They will spend what they have. So as a district you have to balance that line. And no one is sentenced to where they live, you can always move to another district fits your ideas for school funding.
I feel for you though Tesoro, that's a tough year for you.
Click to expand...
I would think the property owners would pass on the property tax increase to the renters. The property tax increase will put a lot of pressure on upcoming school levy votes. The recent levies that were defeated, how will the voters who voted no change their votes when they just been hit with a tax increase they weren't prepared for? Seniors on fixed incomes may have a very hard time dealing with the new tax increase. How many may end up losing their homes?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top