Yard signs urging residents to approve the 4-mill, 10-year renewal school property tax began popping up this week around the rural district just west of and across the Great Miami River from Middletown.
Election day is May 6 and until then it will be a low-key campaign, said Madison Mohawks Levy official Ryan White, but he added the stakes are high for Madison Schools.
“This (levy) renewal is really essential because it helps with the quality of education and services for our students and their families depend on,” said White.
“We’re not increasing taxes and it (levy) supports day-to-day operations. Without it, the school board is going to have make some (budget) cuts.”
If the renewal levy is approved, it will continue a $1.1 million per year, 10-year operating levy first approved by Madison voters in 2005 and would continue to cost owners of a $100,000 home $140 per year in school property tax.
Madison Schools annual operating budget is $20 million.
It’s the first tax issue sought by school officials since 2022, when the district placed an earned income tax on the May ballot to help fund district operations but saw voters defeat it by wide margin.
Madison joins Edgewood Schools as the only two districts in Butler County with school tax issues on the May 6 ballot.
Since 2022, Madison has reduced its operating budget through cuts, said Superintendent Jeff Staggs.
He cited a list of facts from recent years and noted pay to participate student fees were raised to $200 per activity with no family maximum, some teaching positions were eliminated and 30 supplemental teaching and coaching positions were de-funded.
Further budget cuts, including losing high school busing, elimination of an elementary and high school teaching position, phasing out two administrator jobs and other cuts loom should the renewal levy be defeated, said Staggs.
Moreover, pay to participate fees – sports, band and other student activities - will double to $400 per student with no family maximum.
The current levy “brings in $1.1 million per year and if that would not be there for us, I would be concerned,” said Staggs, who added that compared to most other Butler County public school districts, Madison is almost entirely a rural, bedroom community with a small business tax base to help fund schools through local tax revenue.
“We are a township composed of mostly residents and we have very little business. We provide an excellent education … and we are very proud of what we do and we want to continue that,” said Staggs.
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