LICKING COUNTY, OH (WCMH) – For the third time, the Northridge Local School District will be back on the ballot, trying to pass a levy on November 7th.

Residents will be voting on a combined earned income tax and bond issue. It includes a 0.75% earned income tax and 2.9 mill bond issue.

Superintendent Scott Schmidt said their primary school building, which houses kindergarten-3rd grade, continues to deteriorate.

“The building is nearly 100 years old, proper ventilation and air flow is probably our biggest concern,” he said.

Earlier this week, Mrs. Ramsey’s 2nd grade classroom got up to 98 degrees. She walked her students around the block to finish class in the basement of the Alexandria United Methodist Church.

Schmidt said some classes had reading time outside in the shade because it was cooler than being inside.

“Some of the classrooms have been converted into different spaces. So, the one classroom that gets really hot used to be a stage off the gymnasium,” said Schmidt.

But, not having A/C in the primary school isn’t the only reason for passing a levy, according to Schmidt.

4th and 5th grade students have been in trailer classrooms for a decade. The primary school has already been renovated several times. Some walls there are crumbling from water damage and the building lacks the electrical capability to keep up with modern technology.

“If you look around the building you see electrical conduit and water supplies that have been run on the outside of the walls down the hallways,” said Schmidt.

He said studies on the building show it’s more economical to construct a new elementary school, rather than continue to repair their current one.

You may also remember when students had to use outdoor port-a-potties back in January.

“There was just a question of what’s next? Because of the age of the building, systems could fail at any point, just like last winter when the plumbing system failed,” said Schmidt.

He said with this levy, a home valued at $100,000 with an earned income of $50,000 would cost home-owners less than $450/year. The property tax portion would be less than $75/year. Click here to access a calculator to estimate how much it will cost your family.

“The earned income does not effect our senior citizens, people who are retired, on those fixed incomes,” said Schmidt.

If passed, he said the board will wait until 2019 to collect from the new bond, after the old high school bond ends in 2018.

“Residents, according to the auditor, should not see an increase in the taxes going to the bond issue,” he said.

To see the conceptual designs for the new school, click here. 

Schmidt said the new elementary building would cost $19 million. Site updates, safety and mechanical updates to the middle school, high school and multi-purpose space would cost $14 million.

He said if the levy passes, the conceptual designs would be finalized and a new elementary could be built in 18 months.