Revere treasurer warns state bill could cut millions from district if inside mills change

Revere Local School District Treasurer Mr. Berdine told the board at its June 17 work session that a recently introduced state bill (discussed in the meeting as House Bill 335) could substantially change how inside millage is calculated and reduce the district—s tax revenue.

Berdine said district staff have been analyzing several moving pieces of state budget proposals and separate bills and that if the proposal removes the district—s 5.7 inside mills it would eliminate roughly "8 plus million dollars a year." He said the district—s five-year forecast shows roughly $20 million in reserves in the near term and that removing the 5.7 mills could cut that bottom-line estimate about in half in the first year if a change took effect Jan. 1, 2026.

"Because that 5.7 bills is 8 plus million dollars a year," Berdine said. "So we were looking at 20 some million in the 5 year forecast bottom right corner. Well, in year 1, if that went into effect 01/01/2026, you'd lose about half of that." He added the district would need to consider a new levy to maintain current service levels if the mills were removed.

Berdine described other provisions under discussion in Columbus: an inside-millage change that could include substitute levies in the inside millage calculation and proposals to cap district cash balances. He said competing proposals in the legislature had sought caps ranging from 30% (house proposal) to 50% (senate proposal) and that software vendors and association calls had suggested the cap could land at a higher figure before final action.

"We were on a Dan and I were both on a Zoom meeting yesterday with the group about that," Berdine said, describing calls with state association staff and others. "House Bill 335 was introduced maybe a week or 2 ago. ... I will say as Verdine, not as Revere, I'm extremely disappointed that Representative Romer is actually involved in that." He said the bill did not reflect information district representatives had provided in earlier conversations with the representative's office.

Berdine told the board the district's current cash balance sits around 46% (FY24 expected similar) and that preliminary modeling had not been able to fully capture every scenario, in part because his office has not been able to model how substitute levies would be treated under a revised inside-millage calculation. He said some modeling scenarios heard from vendors during April and May suggested higher caps ("70 or 75% by the time it's done") but that outcomes remained uncertain and could be affected by the governor's line-item veto authority.

Board members and staff framed the discussion as preliminary planning: the treasurer said the district has not placed an operating levy on the ballot since February 2011 and that staff are monitoring the legislative process and continuing internal forecasting work. Berdine said district staff told legislators to press for minimal near-term changes but that he remains "hopeful" the bill would not advance this session.

The board did not take any formal action on the matter during the work session. Berdine said the administration will continue to model potential outcomes and provide updates to the public and the board as new information becomes available.

Impact and next steps: Berdine urged continued contact with state legislators and said the district will keep the board updated as bills move in Columbus; he recommended keeping the district—s five-year forecast as a planning tool while noting the significant uncertainty in how any final state action would alter revenue and reserve projections.