The Troy City Schools Talk Taxes

Vol. III, No. 361 - The School Board Makes a Public Announcment About a Failed Levy Campaign

Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash

Troy City Schools voters handed the district an uncomfortable message on May 5. A 5.8-mill renewal levy — one that has been quietly renewed every five years since 1996 — went down by a 53-to-47 margin. Out of 33 precincts, only six voted in favor. One tied. The rest said no.

The school board responded this week with a detailed, well-written letter that explained the mechanics of Ohio school funding, clarified why residential taxes won’t go down if the levy fails, and pledged to put the measure back before voters in November. It was a genuinely good communication — honest, clear, and informative.

The problem is that voters needed to read it before May 5, not after.

In the weeks leading up to the primary election, the district ran what can only be described as a silent campaign. No yard signs. No social media push. No community meetings, no mailers, no visible effort to make the case. For a measure the district now describes as essential to daily operations, the silence was deafening.

There was a time in Ohio — not that long ago — when placing a renewal levy on the ballot was essentially a formality. Voters knew their schools, trusted the institution, and filled in the bubble without much deliberation. That era is over.

Property taxes in Miami County have climbed alongside rising property valuations. Homeowners who didn’t sell a house or add a room are nonetheless opening tax bills that look nothing like they did five years ago. The ballot box is the one place where those same taxpayers have any direct say over how much comes out of their wallets. When residents feel financially squeezed, they use that leverage. The defeat of this levy wasn’t necessarily a statement about Troy City Schools — it may have simply been the loudest “no” available to frustrated property owners.

The school board’s letter deserves credit for addressing this head-on. It acknowledged the valuation increases, the broader statewide debate about property tax reliance, and even noted that the district voluntarily reduced its millage rate by 1.26 mills in December — forgoing over $1.6 million in revenue to provide some relief to property owners. That’s a meaningful detail. It’s exactly the kind of goodwill gesture that voters should have known about before casting a ballot.

The letter also addressed one of the more confusing aspects of this entire situation. Because Troy City Schools is already at Ohio’s 20-mill floor — the state-mandated minimum level of local property tax support — passing or failing this renewal levy does not change residential tax bills. If the levy passes, your taxes don’t go up. If it fails, your taxes don’t go down. So why does it matter?

Here is where the funding structure gets genuinely interesting. The 20-mill floor applies to residential property, but businesses are taxed differently. Without the renewal levy, the district loses approximately $1.5 million annually in revenue collected from commercial and business property. That’s not recoverable money. It simply disappears from the operating budget. And unlike the 2024 bond issue — which funds new school construction — operating levy dollars pay for teachers, staff, programs, and the day-to-day costs of running a school system. Those two funding streams cannot be mixed. You cannot build a new building and then redirect the leftover money to buy textbooks.

The district has stated clearly that a second failure in November would force budget cuts affecting both students and staff. Take that at face value. Ohio’s school funding formula is notoriously complicated, and the district’s dependence on this particular levy is a direct consequence of a system that was designed in a different era and has never been fully reformed.

None of that complexity excuses a passive campaign strategy.

Every levy, every candidate, every ballot issue requires voters to make a conscious decision to walk into a polling place — where primary turnout in Miami County hovers somewhere between 20 and 25 percent — and fill in a bubble. That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because someone made the case clearly and compellingly enough that a voter decided it was worth their time.

Troy City Schools has a legitimate story to tell. The funding mechanics, the commercial property angle, the voluntary millage reduction — all of it makes a reasonable case for why this levy is worth supporting, especially for residential taxpayers who won’t see their bills increase either way.

November is roughly five months away. That is enough time to do this right.

The school district should start making that case now.

Announcing our May Community Survey!

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