Issue 6: Brunswick City Schools to have emergency renewal levy on March ballot

BRUNSWICK — Brunswick City Schools will have an emergency renewal levy on the upcoming March ballot for general operating expenses. Issue 6 is an estimated 2-mill levy which would last for 10 years. If it passes, the owner of a $100,000 home will pay $5.10 per month. Brunswick City Schools Treasurer Mark Pepera said an emergency levy is a type of operating levy which allows the district to tell the community exactly how much the levy will raise, rather than estimate. "We're telling our community this levy will generate $3.2 million a year, and there's an estimated amount of millage that would be required to support that levy," he said. "The other (type of) levy is a stated millage amount, and then you estimate how much it's going to bring in." The district currently has five emergency levies in place, Pepera said. The upcoming levy is a renewal, which voters initially approved in 1994. "This is an existing tax that we're asking the community to renew," he said. "It would not be an increase in their taxes to renew this levy." Funding generated by the levy will go toward the day-to-day expenses of running Brunswick City Schools like staffing, supplies, equipment and utilities, Pepera said. "It's going to support the general operations of the school district," he said. "It's not going to support the construction of the new high school." The levy is a critical piece of Brunswick City Schools' general operating fund, since it would raise $32 million over the next decade, Pepera said. "I don't want to under-stress that this is currently monies we are receiving, so it is an important part of our revenue stream," he said. "It is included in our forecasting. The financial stability of our district counts on this revenue." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.