BELLAIRE - School District Superintendent Tony Scott and Treasurer Tara Boyer are getting the word out that the Bellaire Board of Education did take action in trying to avoid being declared in "Fiscal Emergency" and are still working with the state to resolve the situation.

On Dec. 31, the school district was declared in "Fiscal Emergency" by Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor because of a projected $2.4 million deficit. Now, a fiscal planning and supervision commission is in place that will oversee financial decisions of the board of education and offer a plan to get the district out of fiscal insolvency.

According to Scott, a story about the school board's response to the financial woes that appeared in Monday's edition of "The Times Leader" did not properly note the board of education took steps in advance to try to remedy the situation.

On Aug. 13, the auditor of state released a performance audit that included cost-saving recommendations that reportedly would have kept the school district out of "Fiscal Emergency."

However, Scott said that at that time it was too late to have implemented many of those recommendations because it was so close to the start of the school year. Students returned to class on Aug. 24.

For example, some of the recommendations were for the school district to eliminate 17 teaching positions and seven educational service personnel.

"Our contract doesn't allow that," Scott said. "We have to give 60 days notice before we can do anything. Second of all, the board did not feel that that would have been an appropriate measure to take in the light that the community had no idea what was going on Aug. 13."

Action was taken, and $650,000 in cuts were made and additional cuts have brought that number up to $658,000.

But according to Scott, cuts aren't going to be enough and the state recognized that.

With staffing cuts, an additional $1.7 million will be saved next school year when there is a reduction in force, Scott said, but that's going to "stop the bleeding," adding that it will only temporarily get the school district back in the black - for one year. After that, a deficit is project again.

He also said the district has been following the state's lead, which he said has been recognized by both Roger Hardin, assistant director, Ohio Department of Education, and Jacklyn Osborne, chair of the commission.

"I can tell you that from working with Mr. Hardin and Dr. Osborne in a short amount of time, they were pleased with the work that we've done and to imply that this commission is going to come in and formulate it's own plan is misleading," Scott said. "We've been working with them."

According to Scott, the plan the school board submitted wasn't rejected by the state because it didn't make enough cuts, but because it didn't have a way to generate additional money for the school district in the long run.

"It had nothing to do with the fact that the plan wasn't good enough, it was the fact that the deficit was too big and without getting new revenue in, we weren't going to get out of the hole," Scott said. "Even with the cuts that we've made, we weren't going to be able to get into the deficit, we could stop the bleeding, but we weren't going to get into the deficit."

He also had a memo from Hardin that noted the plan was rejected because "it was nearly impossible to overcome the obstacle with a new source of revenue. "

About 75 percent of the school district's funds come from the state and between 3 and 4 percent comes from the federal government to run the district, excluding federal programs. The rest is generated through local tax dollars. Currently, the school district has 23 voted mills, but is actually near or at 20 mill "floor" through the depreciation of levies. An operating levy hasn't been passed in the district since 1976.

"Basically, we are trying to make it on a 1976 income and none of us can do that in our own lives today," Boyer said.

And the board is still working on the problem.

"The board is continuously making cuts, anywhere we can find them," Boyer said. "And the state gave us credit for doing what we already tried to do."

Scott later said some of the other factors include declining enrollment and no increases in state aid. The district is also losing about $400,000 to open enrollment.

"That about 4 mills if you would take it to the voters," Scott said. "We had increased health costs like everyone else. Plus, the truth of the matter is, we are overstaffed and when you are overstaffed in a district this size, it can create problems like we have."

According to Boyer, one of the biggest challenges has been decreasing revenue with increasing expenditures coupled with a decrease in tax revenue, something that has been unprecedented in the school district.

"That's unheard of. Normally, we could always expect something a little bit more, but you can't anticipate receiving less than the year before when you have a history that shows you will bring in at least as much as the year before," Boyer said.

Schuler may be recahed at shoe@timesleaderonline.com