BARNESVILLE — The Barnesville Exempted Village School District may seek renewal of a levy that provides funding for school maintenance on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Treasurer Adam Quirk said the long-running 0.5-mill levy is set to expire next year and the board needs to think about a possible renewal.

“This has been on and in the district for the past 23 years. It was put on as a 23-year-levy,” Quirk said. “… What this is set to pay for are things like our coolers, our boilers, some of the day-to-day maintenance projects in our actual classrooms — in our elementary school, middle school, high school. We have buildings that are 30, 40, 50, 60 years old, so we have these units that constantly need to be replaced, repaired and the price that those come with are not the same as they were 20-30 years ago,” he said.

Quirk provided paperwork to board members, introducing the levy as a renewal.

“This is just the start of introducing this as a renewal. There are some stages we’ll have to go through, but I just wanted that on our radar,” he said. “We see some of the benefits this levy has brought … When we were able to open up the school when we were closed down (during a severe weather event and power outage) and people had to come into the school because we had running facilities. It is because of this type of levy. It was this exact levy that was able to fund those kinds of things.”

Quirk said additional information will be provided at the board’s next meeting.

Prior to informing the board about the need to renew the levy, Quirk spoke about the budget commission’s determination for next year’s general fund budget.

“This is certification of our tax amounts that we’re set to receive for the year,” he said, adding that the figures are based on levies in place for the district. “Typically the county will certify at 95 percent of what we are set to receive. Last year, we were certified at around $6.2 million in total in taxes; we received right around $6.28, so slightly more than we were certified for.”

The general fund, which includes a number of operating levies, is certified at $5,967,809 for 2023.

“Those are our operating levies comprised of both non-voted and voted millage rates. … Those are set to keep school districts essentially on the same playing field throughout the county and throughout the state,” he said.

Of the general fund, 3.15 mills come from “inside millage,” or taxes levied by local governments that are not approved by voters. The Ohio Constitution limits these amounts to 1% or 10 mills. The other 36.55 mills are from levies approved by voters. The inside millage is set to bring in $637,323, while the outside levies will total $5,330,486.

The permanent improvement fund is set to receive $300,624; and the classroom maintenance fund is set for $84,154.

The board will next meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the middle school cafetorium.