MILFORD, Ohio — Milford Exempted Village School District is proposing a 1% earned income tax on this year's ballot. The district says if it does not pass the district will be in a fiscal emergency by fiscal year 2027.
But what exactly does this levy tax? We asked Milford Superintendent John Spienser.
“It does not tax pensions, retirement benefits, etc.,” Spienser said. “Most importantly it will tax 1%, those wage earners with a W-2 or 1099.”
Spienser said the levy will solely cover operational costs for the district.
“I mean this is a strict operations levy. It’s important for our voters to know and remember that it has been since May of 2013 since the last time we asked the district for operations funding,” Spienser said. “And so we have made it 11 years on a traditional levy that typically lasts 3 to 5 years.”
The superintendent said he and the district believe that the 1% tax could fund them for the foreseeable future. But if it does not pass, it will be a different story.
“There’s some drastic cuts coming to the district should this levy, earned income tax fail,” Spienser said.
According to the district, those cuts would start with no busing for high school students who live within a two-mile radius of their school. After that, changing neighborhood schools to sister-band schools in order to reduce staff and increasing the price of pay to play sports could follow.
However, those who oppose the levy say those cuts are just tactics to pass the levy.
“These threats that they use are just tactics school districts do to get more money so that they don’t have to address the root problem,” said Bill Thomas, a community taxpayer who is against the income tax levy.
Thomas and others against the proposed income tax claim the district has been irresponsible with their spending.
“The district has been very fiscally irresponsible for many years, and I believe that it’s not so much that we are against giving schools money, we’re just against giving money without the school district being fiscally responsible first,” Thomas said.
Thomas said one example of the district being irresponsible with money is the building of the athletic facility. According to Thomas, the project is now millions over budget.
But those in support of the levy say the issue is not the district being irresponsible, but rather the fair school funding formula.
“Basically it freezes the levies … at the values when we voted,” said Morris Lenczicki, a chairperson for Partnership for Milford Schools, a community group that strives to inform the community on school bonds and levies.
Lenczicki and others in support of the levy say community members should vote yes to benefit the kids. That the cuts, if it does not pass, will be detrimental to their education.
“It’s for the students, it’s for the children, it’s for their development for the future,” said Lenczicki.
Opponents also say they are pro-students and education, but with current “forever levies” and bonds creating high property taxes, they say more taxes will hurt many.
“The people that are pro-levy, 1% isn’t really gonna hurt them,” said Thomas. “What’s gonna hurt, it’s gonna hurt the middle class and the lower class families, that lower-income class families, that are hurting already and struggling.”
Thomas added that he and other community members may be open to the earned income tax levy if the district got rid of some current levies and bonds, ultimately lowering taxes.
