Kent is putting a 9.8 mil levy on the ballot. They will push all their teachers and employees to the polls. They always hit the primary elections with the low voter turn out. If you live in one of the newer developments the tax increase equates to about $1200 plus a year. If you own in the lower end housing plan on spending about $700 more. Who needs to buy food. Get out and vote.
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This comment is very misleading. Levies are calculated based on 35% of the county auditor’s appraised value, not at 100%.
Let’s take a real world example. There is currently a home listed in Kent for $475,000 and we can guess it will sell for somewhere around that price. However, the official appraised value by the auditor is $297,100, which then makes the 35% taxable value $103,990. So with that said, the person that purchases this almost $500K house will be paying less than $400/year for this new levy. And I, someone with no kids, am happy to pay a little extra for the education of our future leaders.
I highly recommend everyone use this resource on the auditor’s website: https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?App=PortageCountyOH&LayerID=30592&PageTypeID=2&PageID=12390. When you type in your address it will show you the exact values.
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All these school levies should show you the schools aren’t serious about cutting waste. Vote no now and then in November vote to abolish property taxes. It’s the only way to get their attention.
And who exactly is that helping? I’m struggling with food and gas costs just like everyone else but voting no for our schools and abolishing property taxes will only make matters worse. Where exactly where would we get the funding for local government, police, fire, EMS, and a multitude of other services?
And when it comes to Kent Schools take a look at the levy website. It lays out exactly how they have cut spending since the last operational levy in 2013:
Kent City Schools implemented numerous cost-saving measures, including:
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A net reduction of 23 teaching, administrative, and support positions.
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Reductions in equipment and supply costs.
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Participation in energy-saving programs.
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Reductions in certain facility expenses.
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Strategic use of federal and state grant funding
Jeff, I get you don’t like taxes but we can’t just abolish funding for schools. Instead of the taxes are bad for everything (ignoring that you get roads and community services), let’s focus on a solution. If you don’t want property taxes going to schools then what’s the alternative?
The no taxes for anything movement is very childish and not helpful we have to have police, roads, fire, schools that’s how you get a healthy and strong community that people want to live in.
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The state government will have 2 yrs to figure it out. As long as they don’t tax me out of my home.
The state legislature has had 19 years to work on it—1997 – The Ohio Supreme Court issued its first major ruling declaring Ohio’s school funding system unconstitutional. I understand why property taxes feel overwhelming, but eliminating them entirely would remove a stable, local funding source for schools and essential services without a clear, reliable way to replace it.
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It may be a stable funding source, but it is a unfair and unconstitutional one. The State will have 2 years to fix the funding if the tax is abolished.
“Clear, reliable way to replace it"? How about cutting all the special projects that the government decides to fund without input from taxpayers? How about the 600 million of taxpayer funds that Ohio is giving to fund a sports stadium that the Haslams (who are billionaires) will profit from? Local & State governments need to learn to cut waste. We’ve all had to learn how to make do with less, it’s about time the government has to.
Completely agree. They will have 2 years to work it out, hopefully mostly by cutting waste.
I think most people agree with you on the stadium funding, maybe that’s why no one asked. However, our voices can still be heard on this issue if we vote those who supported this out of office. Ohio lawmakers finalize budget with tax cut, $600m for Browns