ARCHBOLD WEATHER

Archbold Comes Out Ahead In School Funding Plan; Pettisville Loses




The Archbold Area School District would receive additional state funding in the proposed state of Ohio twoyear biannual budget.

That’s what Aaron Rex, superintendent, said.

In the two-year state budget proposed by John Kasich, Ohio governor, Archbold schools would receive $116,000 more money in Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016).

The second year, FY 2017, the budget proposal has Archbold receiving an additional $147,000 in state support.

However, the budget debate is far from settled.

Daman Asbury, director of legislative services for the Ohio School Boards Association, said the Ohio House of Representatives will review and probably modify Kasich’s budget proposal.

Asbury said that probably will take all of March and possibly part of April.

Once the House version is finalized, it must go to the Ohio Senate for its review.

Asbury anticipated that would take the rest of April, and most of May.

If there are differences in the House and Senate versions, they would go to a joint House-Senate committee known as a conference committee to iron out the differences.

Asbury said the state twoyear budget must be passed by June 30, and often, it’s June 30 before all of the details are worked out.

Tangible Personal Property Tax

Rex said one issue that concerns him is Tangible Personal Property Tax Replacement Funds.

In the 2007-08 biannual state budget, a phase-out of the tangible personal property tax was implemented.

The tangible personal property tax was a tax on business equipment and inventory.

School districts across Ohio received funding from tangible personal property tax revenue. Rex said Archbold schools received about $2 million from the tax.

State officials agreed to hold schools “harmless,” from the loss of tangible personal property tax revenue, so districts began receiving replacement money from the state.

Part of the money raised by the Ohio Commercial Activity Tax (or “Cat tax”) went to tangible personal property tax replacement funds.

Rex said in the governor’s version of the proposed budget, tangible personal property tax replacement money is cut by 1% or 2%.

However, the House budget proposal reduces the Archbold school district tangible personal property tax replacement payments from $2,007,236 to $1,811,585.

That’s a reduction of $195,651, or about 9.7%.

“That has us nervous,” Rex said.

Pettisville

During the Pettisville School Board Monday, Feb. 9 meeting, Steve Switzer, superintendent, said under the governor’s proposal, Pettisville stands to lose $35,976 in FY 2016, and $35,616 in FY 17.

Asbury said people generally support Kasich’s intention to drive state budget money to school districts that need it, but the results have left some “scratching their heads.”

A review of the budget numbers, as proposed by the governor, show some districts that are not considered wealthy receiving less state funding, while other, better-off districts get more.

“It’s counterintuitive,” Asbury said.

A lot of money in the state budget is directed to urban districts, he said.

“A lot of rural districts, smaller schools, are not getting the same kind of increases,” he said.

One issue impacting the rural districts is recent increases in Current Agricultural Use Value of farmland, or CAUV.

Property tax rates for farmland are computed based on the CAUV formula. The formula takes into account several factors, including prices paid for the crops farmers grow.

The CAUV calculations lag what’s actually happening in the agriculture community.

This year, the CAUV calculations looked at the 2013 harvest season, which featured good prices for farm commodities. Those good prices were a major factor in driving up CAUV values.

The end result is that farmers saw the taxable value of the property increase– sometimes doubling or tripling.

In Fulton County, the average increase in taxable values was about 130%.

But in 2014, commodity prices dropped drastically.

Asbury said the high CAUV value on farmland makes rural school districts look like they have a large tax base.

In reference to the state budget, Asbury said that right now, “we are at the starting point of a long process.”– David Pugh



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