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Auditor's error could have led to invalid May 4 vote for Middletown schools

Butler County Auditor's Office certified incorrect millage; mistake does not raise amount sought.

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By Marie Rossiter, Staff Writer Updated 8:19 PM Wednesday, March 17, 2010

MIDDLETOWN — A last-minute discovery of a Butler County Auditor’s Office calculation error on Middletown City Schools’ levy millage rate saved the district from a potential invalid vote in May.

District Treasurer Lisa Fahncke discovered that the levy’s millage rate should be 18.78 mills, instead of the Auditor’s originally certified amount of 17.51 mills.

Middletown’s Board of Education will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday, March 18, to approve a change to the resolution to correct the error. The change will not affect the $18.3 million in tax revenue asked for in the original levy resolution approved by the board and certified by the county Auditor’s Office for the May 4 primary election.

“There is still no new taxes with these changes,” Fahncke said. “We are still only asking the community to continue to provide us with the same amount of money they have been all along.”

Fahncke said when she received the latest rates and amounts certification documents from auditor’s office on March 3, the numbers “didn’t seem right.” She called the Auditor’s Office to question the numbers, but said the answers didn’t satisfy her.

Fahncke then rechecked all the numbers, comparing the original certification documents from February and the new numbers she received. A study of state and county tax forms found a basic clerical error that incorrectly showed a more than $1 million increase in state funding,

“Essentially, the Auditor’s Office pulled an incorrect number from a tax form,” Fahncke said. “They took the total amount we receive from our current emergency levies and combined them with our bond funds. These are two entirely different pots of money. This leads to an overestimation on what the state gives us and underestimation on what the taxpayers give us. The incorrect amount led to the incorrect calculation.”

The impact of the error could have been significant, said board President Marcia Andrew.

“The ballot issue could have been thrown out if it was published incorrectly,” Andrew said. “The bigger issue, though, is making sure the voters know what they are voting for is accurate.”

Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds did not return calls requesting comment.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mrossiter@coxohio.com.

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