The Board voted on December 20, 2007, to place a 7.89-mill emergency operating levy on the March ballot, meeting the Hamilton County auditor's deadline for getting on the ballot.
Some Board members indicated then that they would raise the issue again in January — after three new members joined the Board — about when would be the best time to place the levy before voters.
The Cincinnati Board of Education voted on January 14 to keep the emergency operating levy on the March 2008 ballot.
If approved by voters, the 7.89-mill levy would generate $51.5 million annually in new revenue for the district for the next five years. It would cost the homeowner of a $100,000 house the equivalent of about $4.62 a week in new property taxes.
Cincinnati Public Schools faces a $72.8-million revenue shortfall in June 2009, even with the passage of the 7.89-mill levy in March 2008. To avoid the shortfall, CPS must make $28 million in cuts to create a balanced budget for 2008-09, according to Treasurer Jonathan Boyd. School districts are required by law to operate in the black.
CPS has not received new operating revenue since 2000.
The additional money necessary to close the gap before June 2009 would come from the new levy and from the district taking an early payment from Hamilton County of property taxes owed to the district, Boyd said.
In November 2007, voters defeated a 9.95-mill levy request.