CANFIELD — Canfield Local School District has a 7.5-mill bond levy on the Nov. 7 ballot that, if passed, would provide for the construction and equipping of a new elementary school and middle school, and renovations at the high school.

The bond levy came after lengthy discussions and narrowing down of proposed ideas for the district.

The last attempt at a bond levy was in the May 3, 2022, election when voters turned down a 6.9-mill issue that would have raised $107,800,000 to build a new K-8 building on Red Gate property owned by the city. The levy lost with 72% voting against it.

The Canfield Board of Education met to consider placing the bond levy on an Aug. 2, 2022 ballot, but in light of the wide margin of defeat, it decided to go back to the drawing board.

Superintendent Joe Knoll put up a survey to understand why voters turned down the levy. He said 79% said it was too much and 66% didn’t want to see a new school built on Red Gate property.

From September through December, the board hosted meetings at each of the district’s four buildings to showcase some of the issues with those buildings.

The next step was to form a committee to work on what voters might support. The group came up with multiple ideas. Its members began meeting in January and after narrowing down the plans, came up with the 7.5-mill levy proposal, also known as Plan A.

Knoll said the levy would see a new K-4 school on the Hilltop property. Hilltop Elementary would then become the offices for the Board of Education. The rest of Hilltop could be used for a community center or even a senior center, Knoll said.

At the middle school, Knoll said a new middle school was designed to be built around the present one, allowing for school to take place during construction. Once the new middle school opened, the present middle school would be torn down.

The high school would receive some major repairs and renovation, including a new roof and the entire parking lot repaved. The bond levy was set in June at 7.5 mills, but Knoll said the district actually needs less.

“With the new property values, (the bond levy) will be less than 7.5 mills,” he said. “That is good news for Canfield. The 7.5 mills will be on the ballot because we can’t change the ballot language.”

He also noted the Ohio School Facilities Construction Commission will be chipping in $16 million toward the new schools.

“That amount goes away in 2024,” Knoll said.

As the levy committee prepared to push for passage of the levy, a new twist was thrown into the mix. Ohio began a reassessment of the property valuations. Many thought if their property value went up, so would their property taxes. That issue alone was reason for the school board to host a special community meeting at the Canfield Library with Mahoning County Auditor Ralph Meacham as a special guest.

“Anyone who says my taxes are going up by 40 percent, doesn’t know what they are talking about,” Meacham told those present.

Meacham explained how the reassessment would affect property taxes. He said a third would see no change in their taxes, a third would see a slight increase and a third would see a slight decrease. As to how much, Meacham said it would not be known until mid-January.

Knoll was asked what will happen if the levy fails on Nov. 7.

“There is no Plan B,” he said. “Should the levy not pass, the Board of Education will need another game plan.”