Voters approved Cincinnati Public’s five-year, 7-mill property tax levy Tuesday night, giving the district a new revenue stream that leaders say could help it hold current programs in place and avoid deeper cuts in the years ahead. The measure is expected to raise $66.3 million annually starting in 2027.
The levy was the clearest win on a night when school districts across Southwest Ohio went to voters asking for new tax money and found a wary electorate. Cincinnati Public’s measure passed even as none of the six proposed income tax measures did, and only two of the four property tax measures were successful.
For Cincinnati Public, the approval carries immediate weight because the district had been warned earlier this fall that it would likely face a projected $44.5 million deficit by the 2029 fiscal year unless it made immediate cuts or won voter support. The district said the new funding should help it retain current programs and services next fall and avoid deficit spending in the coming years, while likely sparing it from major cost-saving steps such as school consolidation, reduced student transportation and student pay-to-play fees.
The vote also mattered because this was the first time Cincinnati Public had asked voters to approve an additional tax in 10 years. That makes the result more than a routine local ballot item; it is a direct test of whether the district can buy time before the gap between spending and revenue widens further.
Elsewhere, the resistance was clear. Voters in the Bethel-Tate Local School District chose not to extend an existing fixed-sum operating levy for another five years, rejecting a 5.48-mill property tax that would have brought in about $1.51 million annually and cost taxpayers $192 annually per $100,000 of home value. Fairfield’s proposed 1.25% earned income tax levy was denied, and Franklin Schools’ 1.25% earned income tax proposal was also rejected after it sought to raise about $7.4 million a year and roll back one mill of local property taxes.
That split result shows how narrow the opening remains for school funding campaigns, even when districts warn of hard choices ahead. Franklin had already cut around $11.7 million from its operating budget after earlier failed levy efforts, underscoring what can happen when voters keep saying no.
One district did prevail on the bond side. Voters in the Lakota Local School District approved a 37-year, $223 million replacement bond issue for its Master Facilities Plan, with a 2.20-mill cost of about $77 per $100,000 of home value. The bond will start collecting in 2029, after an existing 2.23-mill bond expires in 2028, and the district said it will not increase taxes.
For Cincinnati Public, the next question is no longer whether it can go back to the ballot for help. It can. The question is whether the money now headed its way will be enough to keep the district from revisiting the same choices in a few years, when the deficit warning becomes real and the protections from Tuesday’s vote begin to run out.
