GREEN TOWNSHIP — The Green School District is asking voters to approve a 7-mill  emergency property tax levy for operating cost, which will be on the March primary ballot.

Voters will pay less than 2 cents per day for every $1,000 of assessed taxable value. A property valued at $25,000 will cost 17 cents per day or $61.25 each year. A property valued at $200,000 will cost $1.34 a day or $490 per year. The 7-mill levy will bring in a total of $475,000.

“The levy we are asking our community to support is for operating cost,” Michelle Singleton, eighth grade language arts teacher, said. “Our students deserve the support.”

The Green School District will be hosting a Bobcat Night of Pride. The community event will take place on Feb. 8, from 4 to 8 p.m. and will be held in the high school gymnasium.

“The event is designed to kick off the levy campaign by highlighting the basketball skills of our elementary, junior high and high school teams, as well as the talents of our high school band, cheerleaders and other members of our student body,” Singleton said.

The Bobcat Night of Pride is a media event to help draw the community in to promote the school’s purpose, which is to pass the levy and showcase the students, Ericka Merrill, chairperson of the media committee, said.

“We will be distributing out information regarding the levy and we have several community speakers scheduled to speak and show their support to our community and school,” Merrill said.

During the past decade, the state funding formula for schools changed three times. The changes resulted in lower state funding for the school district. Tax reform at the state level along with the tangible personal property tax cut and increased costs, such as utilities, transportation and healthcare resulted in an overall revenue loss for the district.

“We do not have a budget formula from the state,” Merrill said. “We have the tangible personal property tax cut. We have delinquent taxes, $11 million in Scioto County and costs continue to rise in areas such as insurance. With the tangible personal property tax, we have lost quite a bit of revenue.”

With the national economic downturn, the school district relied on federal relief through various stimulus packages. The final stimulus dollars will be spent during the school year and there isn’t any replacement for those funds.

Current projections show the district will be out of money during the 2013-2014 school year. The district projects to have a deficit of $53,311 in 2014 and a deficit of $1,443,608 by 2016. The last levy for Green Local Schools was passed on Feb. 3, 1988.

For more information, visit, www.wix.com/levycommitte/bobcatsfuture.