By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Mailers sent out by a group opposed to Bowling Green’s school levy are riddled with factual errors – not to mention spelling errors – according to those working to pass the levy.
“It just doesn’t have any credibility at all,” said Ben Otley, who is heading up the school levy campaign. “I think every bullet point on here has incorrect information.”
Bowling Green Superintendent Francis Scruci said the mailer is a “scare tactic” full of misinformation.
Listed below is each allegation from the mailer, paid for by “Citizens Agaist Consolodation” (sic), followed by responses from Otley, Scruci, plus information from the Wood County Auditor’s Office and Wood County Board of Elections.
Claim 1: The school task force voted in favor of three elementary buildings.
The task force took several votes during a series of meetings. When asked to vote for the plan that is best for students, the members consistently voted for one elementary school, Otley said.
The facilitators of the task force wrote a letter to the school board, stating that when voting on the best proposal for students, the task force members supported consolidation.
Claim 2: The district is $23 million in debt and facing three operating levies next spring.
Scruci called this sentence “misleading at best.” Yes, the district has a mortgage for the middle school – “just like every homeowner has.” The operating levies are all renewals, meaning no new money. “We’ve had a lot of public meetings about this. Renewals are different than new money,” he said.
Scruci pointed out that the district has had 20-plus years of clean audits. “We’ve never had any findings for recovery,” he said.
Claim 3: The $40 million levy on the Nov. 5 ballot does not include the high school, and $37 million would have remodeled all the elementaries and the high school.
District officials have never said this levy covers the high school, and the task forces did not see remodeling of the elementaries as acceptable, Otley said.
Claim 4: A levy to address the high school is likely as soon as 2025 and will cost at least $50 million more.
Neither Otley nor Scruci have any idea where this number came from, since it does not reflect any of the costs discussed. “I don’t know where they got that number,” Scruci said.
Claim 5: Why should we trust a board who has put the district $23 million in debt, and refused to listen when the community has already voted twice against consolidation?
This ballot issue is different from the last two in several ways – in response to task force recommendations. First, it is for $40 million rather than $72 million. Second, it is spread over 30 years rather than 37 years. Third, the district is going after state funds to help with construction expenses. And fourth, the issue on the ballot is equally split between property and income taxes. This last change drops the costs significantly for those owning agricultural land. According to the Wood County Auditor’s Office, the property tax will cost about 15 cents on average per month per acre of farmland.
Claim 6: The language on the ballot neglects to mention the $20 million from income tax.
Untrue – both the property tax and income tax are in the ballot language shown on the Wood County Board of Elections website. Because the income tax can only be increased in one-quarter increments, it will likely result in out-raising the $20 million from property tax. The additional $325,000 expected has been dedicated by the school board to go into a capital improvement fund for building maintenance and repairs – as requested by the task force.
This is not the first time the Bowling Green City School District has been confronted by inaccurate mailings sent out by levy opposition.
Two years ago, when the school district tried a different bond issue for a new elementary, 8,400 mailers sent out by a Bowling Green man opposed to the school bond issue included incorrect tax numbers. The Wood County Auditor’s Office said the school bond issue taxes were calculated incorrectly on the mailers – portraying the taxes as much higher than they actually were.
Then a few days before the 2017 election, another flyer was delivered to Bowling Green City School District voters, trying to convince them to vote against the school building issue. That mailer, sent out by a group called Wood County Citizens Against Higher Property Tax, was riddled with misinformation and “blatant disregard for the numbers,” Scruci said.
For example, that mailer predicted decreased business growth due to taxes, and increased crime in the schools due to consolidation. The flyer warned there would be 1,000 percent more weapon incidents and 3,200 percent more robberies in the elementary.
Otley said the group supporting the school levy – BG Citizens in Support of Our Schools – has been dedicated to providing accurate information to voters through its mailers.
The group has received endorsements of all the district’s PTOs, BG City Council, BG Chamber of Commerce, BG Economic Development, League of Women Voters, BG Education Association, Ohio Association of Public School Employees, and Ohio School Boards Association.
The organization has letters of support from Bowling Green Police Chief Tony Hetrick, who stated that having one community elementary school will aid in school safety, and a letter from the Toledo Regional Association of Realtors noting the importance of schools to home values.
“Our committee has done a good job of presenting facts,” Scruci said.
