Hilliard puts tax issue on fall ballot to replace elementary schools, finance operations

Residents in the Hilliard school district will vote Nov. 5 on a levy for the first time in eight years.

Voters will decide on a combined bond-levy issue that would finance regular operations and improvements to school facilities. Residents will vote on raising the bonds and property taxes in the same item.

The first part of the two-part ballot issue is a 6.9-mill operating levy that would increase property taxes $242 for every $100,000 in appraised value. The county treasurer's office estimated this will raise $31.6 million annually, according to the board's resolution.

This money would fund everyday operations in the district, including staffing, utilities and instructional materials, Superintendent David Stewart said, but he would not detail any specific areas that needed funding.

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Stewart said the levy is instead not focused on a few specific issues but needed because of rising costs seen around the country and because the district has had the same funding since 2016.

“We've been off the ballot for eight years, and the reality of the way the schools are funded in Ohio, basically our funding remains flat during that time, until voters approve an increase,” Stewart said. “We don't benefit from an increase in home values and things like that.”

The Hilliard school board in June approved putting the levy on the ballot, and Westerville Schools recently approved a similar bond-levy issue.

The second part is to raise $142 million in bonds for facility improvements for phase one of the district’s facility master plan. It will appear as a 1.84 mill levy — that is $64 for every $100,000 of appraised value — to pay the debt charges of the bonds but maturing debt will mean it won't require additional taxes to be raised. The bonds will bear interest at an estimated 5% annually over a period not exceeding 30 years, according to the resolution.

Facility improvements

The $142 million will fund the replacement of three of the district’s elementary schools: Brown, Beacon and Ridgewood. The renovations would convert Brown Elementary’s building into a 6th grade building and the district would construct a new Brown Elementary.

Beacon and Ridgewood would be demolished. Stewart said Hilliard Schools’ facility challenges are less about space and more about the age of the buildings.

Brown Elementary opened in 1965, Ridgewood in 1961 and Beacon in 1968, The Dispatch previously reported.

Bond money would be spent on renovating elementary playgrounds and improving fine art spaces, security, athletic facilities and performing spaces. Stewart said the exact spaces being improved have not been determined yet, but the plan makes sure those areas will get funded.

Hilliard School’s website says there will be improvements to Darby High School’s weight room.

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Bond money would also fund a new preschool that would be attached to the new Beacon Elementary building. This would be the district’s second preschool. While construction happens, students will be moved to different buildings.

For example, The Hub, the district’s ‘Innovation Campus’ that offers extra programs not offered at regular schools, would move its high school programming to Station and middle school programming to Tharp, a 6th grade building.

The district collected 4 mills to pay off bonds in 2024, according to the school board’s resolution to put the levy-bond issue on the ballot. The district said in an informational statement on its website, that it will not go over 4 mills in property taxes to pay off bonds if the issue is approved in November.