The Hillsdale Board of Education met in special session Tuesday night to discuss levy options.
 

Hillsdale has placed a combination levy on the November 6 General Election ballot and the school board passed a resolution to place the levy on the Feb. 5 special election ballot if it fails.

Supt. Joel Roscoe said the first part is a 1.25-percent earned only school district income tax which means the income tax will not apply to unearned income, including pensions and social security.
 

Roscoe said the second part is a 7.9-mill, two-year fixed dollar property tax which will be collected in 2013 and 2014 and then will expire.
  

Roscoe said the levy is necessary to provide operating income during the time the school district income tax is developing cash flow to the district.

"Typically you ask for one issue on one vote but this combined levy allows school districts to actually ask for two different types of levies on the ballot. The reason for that is with an income tax it takes 18 to 24 months to wind up and get full collection in Ohio schools. We need the cash now," Roscoe said.

"We needed to ask the voters for cash to get us through the next year or two in terms of cash flow," Roscoe said.

Without approval of the combination levy, Hillsdale will be forced into state control and will be required to make massive cuts that will impact educational quality and extra-curricular opportunities for students for years to come.

"If the levy doesn't pass it will devastate the district. We'll see immediate layoffs, changes to programming, potential layoffs of 15 to 19 staff members and changes in pay to participate. Those are the kind of changes you don't want to make," Roscoe said.
  

The school board has made a commitment to not request renewal or replacement of this levy upon expiration.

In June the Ohio Department of Education declared the district to be in a state of fiscal caution. If the levy fails the district is looking at a deficit of more than $558,000 at the end of the school year and about $1.7 million by the end of the next school year.

 In other business, Roscoe announced he would be retiring effective July 31, 2013 after more than 20 years with the district.