PERRYSBURG, OH (Toledo News Now) - Volunteers gathered Monday to make one final push to Perrysburg voters asking them to support the local school system by approving a 13.19 mills levy that will replace an expiring 9.95 mills.
"We've added 288 new students to the district. We've reduced our staff by about 6 percent, and our expenditures, how much we spend each year has only increased half of one percent over four years. So we've done a great job of managing our budget and doing what we have to do to live within the dollars that we're given," said Perrysburg Superintendent Tom Hosler.
The increase in the levy is to make up for a $3.8 million state reduction. If the levy does not pass, the district will have to cut about 95 positions.
"We're hoping that this will be another opportunity for them to say we value schools in this community and we want good schools for our community. So we're hopeful that that will be the message we hear tomorrow night," said Hosler.
Perrysburg Councilman Todd Grayson hopes for the same outcome when it comes to the transportation levy.
"I hope that our citizens recognize that there is a need, there is demand. There are folks who'd have to move out of town, move to assisted living potentially lose their jobs, lose their ability to get to school. Those things all matter to a lot of people in this community and I believe we should support it," said Grayson.
The transit levy is a little less than half the cost of what property owners paid for TARTA. Perrysburg will not have public transportation in the levy fails. Grayson hopes the Ride Right service will speak for itself.
"The gap service from ride right has been outstanding. We've literally had no substantial complaints and lots and lots of great feedback. The riders who have used it are very very happy and they're all elated we've chosen to use ride right," said Grayson.
Opponents of the transit levy said they do not want to pay extra money for public transportation.
Opponents of the school levy said the district has room to make more cuts and should not ask taxpayers for more money.
