Cleveland Real Estate News

Many of you who have been fighting the good fight for school funding to change are up to speed on HB920 which was passed decades ago. I’m just getting up to speed myself. As a Realtor® buyers and sellers frequently ask me questions about school systems. One theme is certain in almost all school districts; funding is tight. Apparently HB920 froze the percentage of the money we each contribute in our property taxes that can be utilized for schools. What was the purpose? Depends on which interpretation you believe. WVIZ did a story on it in 2000. They said this about George Voinovich’s support for the Bill:

“….I’m sure his initial intentions were very good and that was that property owners would not become poor as a result of hyper-inflation. So, what they did was swing the pendulum completely the other way and they put a cap on the value of millage that you voted on for school taxes. The effect of that is, if a piece of property was worth $1,000 in 1900, you’d still only collect the money on what that property was in the past. So, when we pass a levy now, it’s based on only those mils on the current value of the property….”

The WVIZ article says many believe the public still supports HB920. I have to think of a conversation with a friend of mine from a year ago. He said he felt voting down levys was the only control most people feel they have over any of their taxes. I believe that too. What I am not sure many people understand is that because of HB920 the school districts do not receive an increased amount of money each year even if the property values have increased.

What brought me to this topic today? Strongsville is one of the school districts embroiled in funding issues. The district provided information to all school families. This is what their paperwork, provided to me by our Finance Manager, Bob Wilson, had to say:

“….HB 920 effectively freezes all voted real property millage at the dollar amount collected the first year the millage went into effect.  For example, the last new levy approved in 2002 generated $7.7 million for the schools.  During each of the next five years, despite new residential and commercial construction in

Strongsville, the schools will only receive the same $7.7 million in revenue.  We are in essence using the value of 2002 dollars to pay 2007 costs….”

There is a site called Ohio Fair Schools and if you read this page you can review their highlighted synopses of the State wide grassroots effort to change the way schools are funded. State Senator Schuring has a proposal that needs at least 20 other Senators to sign onto, and he wants it to be put to vote in March of 2008. His thrust is to shift from property tax to income and sales tax.

Have any of you been following this more closely? I would love to hear your thoughts or any pertinent updates you may have on the issue. You can read Schuring’s proposal here. Do you think WVIZ was correct, that a majority of the taxpayers would be in favor of keeping HB920 in effect? Does the Supreme Court ruling that Ohio is using a funding system that is unconstitutional mean we are really going to get a new method of funding? I guess these are all 64 thousand dollar questions. I tried to browse for blogs on the topic but didn’t find any. Could be because it’s almost time for the sun to come up so if I missed them, can you let me know please.

Funding our schools and buying homes in our neighborhoods, whether it’s Cleveland or communities on either side of The River, are subjects that can’t seem to be separated. Peace Out - 3C

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