SOUTH OTSELIC – For the second year in a row, residents of the Otselic Valley School District voted down the school’s proposed budget, making OV again the only school in the county to have its budget defeated.
The proposed OV budget called for an increase from $7,819,634 in 2006/2007 to $8,178,842 for the 2007/2008 school year. Although the increase in spending was relatively small, at 4.59 percent, because of the small, rural nature of the district, the increase in spending would cause a tax levy jump of 5.77 percent. Voters turned down the budget Tuesday by a margin of only 33 votes, 170 to 137.
Last year, the results were similar, with voters turning down the budget by a margin of 31 votes, 134 to 103.
At a budget meeting held two weeks ago, Superintendent Larry Thomas explained that the board of education was responding to concerns expressed by voters the previous year, who claimed their biggest concern was keeping the tax levy increase to a minimum. Thomas explained that in an attempt to do so, the school had cut three teaching positions and two members of the support staff.
This morning, Thomas said he was disappointed by the results of the budget vote. “The board gave the residents what they thought they wanted, based on the information that they had,” said Thomas.
Residents and teachers who attended the budget meeting had voiced concern over the fact that the administration could be receiving a raise, while the district was losing teachers. The board held off on voting on the raise until after the budget vote;, however, Thomas said he did not think that action had any influence in yesterday’s vote.
Otselic Valley has not yet decided what it will be doing next. The school board will be meeting on May 23 and will be discussing their next steps at that time.
Although the budget was voted down, residents did approve a bus proposition 155 to 130.