Thanks to the initiative of Superintendent Tracey Miller and Director of Student Services John Frye, New Richmond EVSD is recouping some of the monies lost due to changes at Beckjord and Zimmer, Treasurer/CFO Matthew Prichard shared during the Nov. 15, 2021, Board meeting.
In 2019, the Board and Administration decided to invest $10,000 in a lobbyist to help with efforts to secure “bridge” money to help make up for some of the significant revenue loss resulting from the changes at the local power stations. The lobbyist and district have worked with elected officials including Ohio Senator Terry Johnson, the late Ohio Rep. Doug Green, and recently elected Rep. Adam Bird.
As a result of their efforts, H.B. 164 was approved. It required the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to make payments for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to each school district with at least one power plant located within its boundaries that experienced more than a 10% decrease in the taxable value of utility tangible personal property (TPP) subject to taxation.
For New Richmond, that payment was $388,000, Mr. Prichard said. But Mr. Miller and Mr. Frye weren’t done yet. They pushed to secure additional “bridge” money which brought the district an additional $1.8 million.
Mr. Prichard said that he recently received word that the language in HB 164 has been carried over to the new fair school funding bill. As a result, New Richmond can expect to receive an additional $1.8 million over each of the next two years.
“It’s certainly going to help,” he said. And none of this would be possible if not for the vision and initiative of Mr. Miller, Mr. Frye, and the Board in 2019, he added.