By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

FORT THOMAS - With 325 votes to spare, voters in the Fort Thomas Independent School District approved an 11 percent school tax increase in a special election Tuesday.

FORT THOMAS VOTE

Question: Are you for or against levying in the Fort Thomas Independent School District a general tax rate of 77.7 cents per $100 of assessed value as authorized by KRS160.470? Vote Results For: 2,932 (53%) Against: 2,607 (47%) Turnout: 5,539 (49%) Total registered voters: 11,120 Votes by precinct Precinct A For 298 Against 215 Precinct B For 229 Against 328 Precinct C For 296 Against 225 Precinct E For 239 Against 124 Precinct F For 144 Against 112 Precinct H For 249 Against 130 Precinct I For 155 Against 197 Precinct K For 210 Against 132 Precinct L For 189 Against 183 Precinct M For 113 Against 128 Precinct N For 179 Against 189 Precinct P For 139 Against 178 Precinct R For 187 Against 192 Precinct S For 171 Against 178 Absentees For 134 Against 96 Precinct J did not vote in this election because it sends students to Campbell County Schools. There is no Precinct D, G or O in the city.

The tax increase needed voter approval because it is nearly triple the amount allowed by state law in one year without a vote. About 49 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

The increase will raise about $1.5 million a year for schools.

The money will be used to pay for teacher salary increases and supplement a budget shortfall that could reach $1 million in this Campbell County suburb.

The district may also use some of the money for legal fees to try to change the funding formula behind the Kentucky Education Reform Act, which contributed to the need for the tax increase.

The vote to increase the school property tax by 11 percent will raise residents' overall annual tax bills by 5 percent.

The tally was 2,932 votes, or 53 percent, for the tax increase, and 2,607 or 47 percent, against.

Turnout was heavy on the first pleasant day in weeks, with nearly half of eligible 11,120 registered voters going to the polls.

At a post-election victory celebration, one of the tax's supporters and beneficiaries was pleased.

"I think it's a great idea," said T.J. Kramer, a junior at Highlands High School who campaigned for the increase. "... The town will be better because of it."

With the increase, the school tax rate goes from $7 per $1,000 of assessed valuation on a Fort Thomas home to $7.77. The total real property tax rate will move up from $14.43 per $1,000 of assessed value to $15.20.

That's a $77 increase on a $100,000 home and about a $116 jump on a $150,440 home, the average price of a home in the city.

Tax had opponents

Opponents of the tax said that with increased property assessments this tax cycle, the tax hit could be much higher.

"A lot of numbers were quoted and a lot of figures were thrown around. The bottom line is that the actual school taxes collected will increase by almost 30 percent this year because of this vote," said Joan Ferris, a fourth-generation resident of Fort Thomas who was a member of Citizens for Truth and Accountability Before Taxation.

"I don't care what the rate is. The check you're writing is for 30 percent more."

The district school board approved an increase in September, but had its decision overruled in December by Campbell County Judge Leonard Kopowski. The judge ruled the increase was not properly advertised and because it was more than 4 percent in one year, needed to be approved by voters.

Heavy campaigns for and against the tax, including a Saturday rally featuring Fort Thomas schools parent and former Cincinnati Bengal Cris Collinsworth, marked the months before the vote.

Collinsworth, now a Fox Network football commentator, said, "With four kids in the school district, I had a selfish reason to want this. But it was the older people and those who don't have kids in the public school system who voted for this who are the true champions."

The city of about 17,000 is consistently one of the top scorers on statewide achievement tests. Highlands Middle School, one of the five schools in the 2,400-student system, was the highest-scoring middle school in the state on the CATS achievement tests in the last cycle.

"One of the underpinnings to me is that people here value the schools too much, that there's not enough healthy skepticism," said Peter Coughlan, a member of Citizens for Truth and Accountability Before Taxation.

"I think the closeness of the vote shows that skepticism is growing. I think people will probably pay a little more attention now."

KERA changed funding

Fort Thomas schools have been on the losing end of state funding handouts since KERA was passed in 1990.

Fort Thomas has high property values, with the average house selling for nearly double the Kentucky median home value average of $86,700.

The formula for KERA gives state money to districts based on home property values. The higher the property values are in a district, the less state money that district will receive. Before KERA, each district in the state received equal funds.

But because some towns are home-value rich and some towns are home-value poor, that made the funding of education unequal and unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case that precipitated KERA.

Fort Thomas has received little state help over the last decade, since the passage of KERA.

"We had eight years in a row in the 1990s where we saw no increase in the amount of money per pupil," said Fort Thomas Superintendent Larry Stinson.

"Yet our costs continued to rise and we had to cut staff, one or two at a time over the years. We knew if we kept doing that it would impact the quality of education, so we finally decided enough was enough."

So, the district turned to raising taxes.

A similar increase was approved two years ago by voters in the Beechwood Independent Schools district in Fort Mitchell and Lakeside Park.

That area, too, has high-scoring schools in suburban neighborhoods with high property values, and so receives little state aid.

Stinson said raising teacher salaries will be the prime use of the new funds, and that a portion will also go to balance a budget shortfall that he projects will be between $300,000 and $1 million.

State formula could change

Stinson said some money also might be used to try to change the KERA formula.

"We haven't made a final decision on that yet," said Stinson. "We're watching a suit filed recently by south-central Kentucky parents against KERA who are in a similar situation we are in. We'll see where that goes and decide what to do."

Parents in eight school districts in the state filed a suit in January in Franklin County Circuit Court against Gov. Paul Patton and the Kentucky legislature over the amount of aid their schools receive.

Linda Gross, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, said the KERA formula will be discussed during the 2004 General Assembly.

"This formula was designed to be flexible and we are looking at it," said Gross.

"We know districts like Fort Thomas are very dependent on a limited amount of funds from their area and we're not dismissing their concerns. But it will take time.

"Something needs to be done because we need more funding for KERA overall."