Questions linger for Fairbanks officials after two attempts to pass a levy failed at the ballot box.
The board of education held a special meeting Monday that, among other things, opened a discussion about where the master facility plan sits after the combination levy failed a second time last month.
In November and then again on March 19, the district attempted to pass a combination 25% income and 1.84 mil property tax as Fairbanks looks toward renovations and additions to its campus, anticipating aging facilities and growth in the region.
The levy would’ve helped finance the rest of the second phase of the master facility plan, which would be work to the middle and high school building.
Superintendent Adham Schirg started the conversation this week by asking the board members what they see as the issues with getting the message out.
“As we move into it, I’m curious, do members see any gaps that existed in the way that the district approached these ballot issues?” Schirg asked. “If so, what were those gaps and as we move forward and plan potentially what we do in the future, how would we address them?”
Board members said they felt the district had done a good job letting the public know what the district needs, so the message may have been received but not supported.
“It seems like there’s still that gap of people that aren’t connected that probably are not going to support our schools. I’m not going to say they don’t support them, they just aren’t going to support the levy,” said Board President Derek Nicol. “We knew that going into it, I guess I don’t know how to mend that gap.”
Board member Angie Bouic agreed, saying that while the district heard from the “no” voters previously, conversations haven’t taken place since, leaving officials with uncertainty over how to alter the plan.
“We split it up so that the taxpayers who don’t own property would help pay and take some of the burden,” she said. “At this point, I don’t where to bridge that gap.”
Looking at a breakdown for more than a dozen precincts with Fairbanks on the ballot, a majority of residents in those areas voted against the measure. Dover and Union townships as well as the Village of Milford Center voted for it.
The small group of Madison County voters in the district also voted against it.
Board members pointed to the fact that many districts around the state struggled to push levies forward, saying residents statewide may just being feeling the pressure of higher taxes and inflationary costs.
The results were similar to the last election except that this time around, the district lost support in one of the Darby Township precincts that previously supported the levy.
Additionally, the board said future funds from a nearby solar facility might play into voter decision-making also.
Savion, the solar company now owned by Shell, has worked to install a 1,932-acre project in Pike Township in Madison County, near Rosedale over the last three years. Projections from the Madison County Auditor’s Office show that project’s PILOT agreement, or payment in lieu of taxes, could bring in as much as $830,000 annually to the school district.
Though many of the panels are in place, the project has not yet been completed and none of the money has gone to district or other entitles.
While the failure doesn’t leave the district with nothing it can do – a levy was passed in November that will help phase two get started – it will likely have to start the master facility planning process over.
The plan was approved for the Expedited Local Participation Program with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, which means the district would receive monetary credit that would be paid back to the district. However, that’s reliant on the district getting new money passed within a year from its program approval date. Since the facility plan was approved in June 2023 and failed to pass a new money levy in the fall and spring elections, the cycle will run out by summer.
Schirg said that means if the district plans to go back on the ballot in the future, it likely wouldn’t be for another year at the earliest.
“There are no definitive plans set for the board at this point, we just really want to gauge thinking around the next time approaching a potential ballot issue,” he said. “I mean minimally, to me, you’re off minimally November of ’24 because of just that master facility planning process.”
The board said conversations will resume in the community but the district will likely, in the short-term, focus on current resources to fix immediate needs such as aging HVAC and electrical systems.