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Beaver Local talking renewal tax levy

CALCUTTA — The Beaver Local School District is one step closer to asking district voters for renewal of its current emergency tax levy.

During last week’s meeting, the school board approved a resolution to receive information from the county auditor’s office as the board looks to place its five-year emergency tax levy on the ballot for the Nov. 6 general election.

According to the terms, the levy would be at a rate sufficient to raise $1.2 million annually, and will be first levied in 2019 and collected in 2020.

The board will look to receive the information within the next few weeks and will then formally vote to place the levy on the ballot.

Meanwhile, the board approved a lease agreement with the Beaver Local Little Beavers Inc. for use of the former Rogers Elementary property on Sprucevale Road in Rogers over a span of 25 years, with the agreement expiring in 2043.

The youth football organization will be responsible for using and maintaining the property, and will pay the district $5,000 annually for the first five years of the deal along with $1 from each ticket sold.

Calling the agreement a “win-win,” Superintendent Eric Lowe said the Little Beavers would be able to use the property’s fields for practices, giving more students an opportunity to play and participate in practice as opposed to the current Calcutta site, which might be too far for some.

“They had some ideas of what they wanted to do in order to utilize that property so that young kids will be able to utilize that property,” Lowe said.

“It’s the same basic kind-of thing we did for Little Beavers Softball, which is a great thing in my opinion because we’re able to give back to the kids in our community in a way that otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to,” added board president Bill Croxall.

One concern brought up by board member Patrick Clutter was the dollar amount being asked — an annual $5,000 payment — in relation to leasing the fields. He questioned why was it that high when the Little Beavers softball program would only be required to pay $1 annually.

“Little Beavers girls softball pays one dollar a year,” Clutter said. “They’re making $5,000 plus a part of the gate. How did we justify that?”

Lowe explained that, similar to the high school level, softball is considered a “non-revenue” sport, while the football team holds a sizable revenue along with a carryover balance from the previous year.

“Most times, at the end of the year, they’re looking for ways to spend it, but being a non-revenue generating group so to speak, they can’t carry over a sizable sum of money,” Lowe said. “A lot of times they’re buying equipment that they’ll eventually use but may not need at the present moment so that they can allocate the resources.”

Clutter also had questions on the language in the contract, which stated “The lessee (Little Beavers) shall pay the lessor $5,000 for the first five years of the agreement to be paid.”

“To me that says, when I first read it, they’re only paying $5,000 for the first five years, $1,000 a year, when I first read it because I know the girls’ softball only pays a dollar a year” Clutter said. “We need to put ‘$5,000 a year for the first five years’.”

The matter was approved with a unanimous vote.

In other business:

— The board approved the second reading of nine NEOLA policies, which have been amended to remain up to code. Those policies were for “Eligibility of Resident/Non-Resident Students,” “Entrance Requirements,” “Lending of Board-Owned Equipment,” “Staff Use of Personal Communication Devices,” “Access to District Technology Resources and/or Information Resources from Person Communication Devices,” “Utilizeation of the District’s Website and Remote Access to the District’s Network,” “School Safety,” “Bus Driver Certification” and “Business Advisory Council.”

— The board approved a casual insurance policy from Liberty Mutual for the 2018-19 school year. Going through agent Holloway Insurance, the insurance will run for $72,328 for the year. It also accepted the cooperative services agreement from the Ohio Mid-Eastern Regional Education Service Agency (OME-RESA) for Fiscal Year 2019.

— The board approved April 18, 2019, to serve as a waiver day in the district along with eight scheduled two-hour delays during the 2018-19 school year, which will occur on Sept. 12 and 26, Oct. 24, Nov. 7, Jan. 16, Feb. 20, and March 6 and 20.

— A special meeting will be held 8 a.m. June 20 in the K-12 campus’ multimedia room, as the board reviews and votes on the final fiscal year transactions as required by law, along with other business. The next regular meeting is scheduled 7 p.m. July 9.

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