Voters approved Cincinnati Public's Pickerington school levy on Tuesday night, giving the district a five-year, 7-mill property tax that will generate $66.3 million annually starting in 2027. The vote also left several other local school tax proposals short, including income tax measures in Fairfield and Franklin Schools.
For Cincinnati Public, the levy provides the new operating money district leaders were seeking after the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce said earlier this fall the district likely faced a projected $44.5 million deficit by the 2029 fiscal year without immediate cuts or a successful levy. The approval gives the district a new revenue stream before that gap reaches its worst point.
Cincinnati Public levy vote
The approval was the district's first additional tax ask in 10 years. Because the levy begins collecting in 2027, the money will not reach district accounts immediately, but it will arrive before the projected deficit year identified by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
That timing gives Cincinnati Public room to avoid deficit spending and the cost-cutting steps that typically follow if a district cannot close a budget gap. The 7-mill levy is the mechanism voters chose over cuts or delay.
Fairfield and Franklin Schools
Fairfield's proposed 1.25% earned income tax levy was denied by voters, and Franklin Schools' 1.25% earned income tax issue was rejected. Franklin had sought about $7.4 million annually over five years, while Fairfield's latest proposal followed a similar income tax measure that failed in May.
Earlier this year, the Fairfield Board of Education approved potential spending reductions for the 2027-2028 school year. Franklin had already cut around $11.7 million from its operating budget after previous failed attempts to pass a levy.
Lakota Local School District bond
Voters in the Lakota Local School District approved a 37-year, $223 million replacement bond issue to fund its Master Facilities Plan. The 2.20-mill bond costs about $77 per $100,000 of home value and will begin collecting in 2029 after an existing 2.23-mill bond expires in 2028.
The district said the replacement bond will not increase taxes, because the new levy starts after the old one ends. Tuesday night's results left a split pattern across Southwest Ohio: none of the six proposed income tax measures passed, while two of the four property tax measures did.
For districts that went to voters looking for operating money, the result was tighter budgets ahead. For Cincinnati Public and the Lakota district, the votes buy time, but each will still have to manage the gap between approval and the year the new revenue begins.
