So I wake up this morning and begin my normal routine when I arrive at work at 6:30am, I read the news. One of the sites I check periodically is the Sidney Daily News, my home town newspaper. I try not to read news from back home that often, usually because of how boring and depressing the Buckeye State can be. But this morning I noticed a Facebook post from my cousin which seemed to indicate some sort of bad news back home, his message was vague but I had a suspicion their was a school levy that was just defeated, and I was right. Sidney City Schools, where I received my public education, has been trying to pass a School Levy for several years now. The town has been deeply divided because of this issue. I have maintained a neutral view of the situation, my parents are against it, Aunts and Uncles are for it, but because I pay nothing to the City of Sidney, I really don't care. I try to forget my time as a student in the School district, not saying it's a bad school district, it's just not outstanding and generally mediocre. I was intrigued because this levy was just a renewal of an existing levy, meaning there would be no tax increase to the voters. So why did this fail? Why are the citizens of Sidney taking their time to ensure this levy is defeated? Well I did my research, and may have discovered why.
First a little background for those of you whom have never eaten at "the Spot" (local eatery), Sidney sprang up as a result of the Miami and Erie Canal, later the railroad and eventually in the 1950s one of the largest stretches of interstate highway crossed right through the town. Sidney is mainly an industrial/agricultural town, and is home to one some beautiful landmarks to include "the Big Four Bridge" (Large Concrete Railroad Arch Bridge), The Shelbly County Courthouse (Second Empire Architecture), and a main street right out of a 50s Hollywood movie. Now we all know we are still in a recession, and like any town with a large industrial workforce Sidney was hit hard, how hard, well I have some stats.
- The State of Ohio currently has an unemployment rate of about 10.4 percent, about 0.8 percent above the national rate of 9.6 percent, Shelby County tops them both with a 11.9 percent unemployment rate.
- On top of this Ohio ranks 47th in the nation for its tax climate, meaning that for potential new businesses Ohio offers little incentive for a new Company to start up. Ohio's income tax rate is 5.5%, Shelby county and the City of Sidney add 1.5 percent to bringing the total tax burden to & percent on top of the federal income tax rate.
- 11.5 percent of the population is under the poverty line, accounting for about 9.4 percent of the families of Sidney.
Now, my first conclusion was the people of Sidney have fallen under hard times and don't want to have their taxes raised, but this levy would not have raised taxes. Because of the failure of this levy, the residents of Sidney will get a tax cut, on a $100,000 property there would be about a $140 dollar per year cut in taxes, or $12 dollars per month. So the question remains, Why did this levy fail? As an analyst it's easy to use statistics to form assessments, it gives you a solid amount of data to back you conclusions up, but leaves out an important factor, emotion. As I discussed earlier the town is divided on this issue, why? because both sides feel they are right, and both sides are right. On one hand education is one of the most important parts of our society, it's was separates us from cave dwellers of Afghanistan and inbreds of Canada. But on the other hand, public Schools like any government entity are inefficient money pits, that are slow to change. So during the worst part of this recession the school system asked for a levy, it failed, and failed again. Websites were produced, people talked at the football games, and lines were drawn in the sand. This isn't about money anymore, its about being right, it's about winning, and it's not about the kids attending these schools. For example here are a few links on both sides of the issue.
http://www.schoollevyfacts.org/
http://forum.sidneydailynews.com/index.php?topic=394.2595
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sidney-City-School-Levy/119720171387310
http://sidneyindependent.blog.com/2009/12/12/recap-of-the-scs-levy-saga/
http://www2.sidney.k12.oh.us/
http://www.sidneydailynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=97&SubSectionID=243&ArticleID=214000
So my conclusion is this, people have planted their feet they and aren't going anywhere. A cut in taxes sounds like an awesome idea during a recession. But again I have nothing in this fight. And I'm not even paying attention.
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