Riverside Local officials warn of multimillion-dollar deficits, prepare levy scenarios

At a Riverside Local board meeting, Speaker 4 (unidentified meeting participant) summarized a four-year financial forecast showing rising year-over-year deficit spending and said the district must prepare levy options for voters.

Speaker 4 presented numeric forecasts saying fiscal year 2027 shows projected deficit spending of about $5,400,000 (an increase from an earlier $4.4 million projection), fiscal year 2028 was projected at negative $7,800,000, and fiscal year 2029 was projected at about $10,300,000 in deficit spending; the presenter noted the district still held cash reserves but that the multi-year trend was compounding the problem. "We know we're in deficit spending," Speaker 4 said, and later stated, "We are levy imminent." The transcript also includes a referenced annual impact from a county tax change of "about $1,200,000 a year." These figures were delivered by speakers during the meeting and presented as district forecasts.

District speakers tied the shortfall primarily to reductions or shifts in funding rather than sudden spending increases. Speaker 5 summarized the change as a swing driven by reduced funding (the presenter characterized the net swing as larger than initial differences, described during the meeting as roughly a $5.5 million swing in later-year projections). To help the board and the public understand the drivers, the district plans a public forum featuring Lake County Treasurer Michael Zern (named in the transcript) and Dr. Thompson to discuss what an abolition or major change to property-tax funding would mean for local services and schools.

Speakers emphasized the district's relatively lean spending posture. Speaker 2 said the district's per-pupil spending was presented in the meeting as "16,045" and the Lake/Geauga county average as "17,405" per student; the transcript also lists Madison as "13.09" (the units and formatting were given in the meeting transcript and were not clarified on the record). Speaker 2 and Speaker 4 argued those comparisons demonstrate limited room for further cuts without harming educational programs.

To improve budgeting and public transparency, the district plans to adopt Frontline analytics (identified in the transcript as "Frontline analytics") for monthly forecast and budget reviews; the presenter stated a cost of $23,000 for that tool. Speaker 4 said the finance department will prepare multiple levy timing and type scenarios for a March board retreat and that the district intends to run a "levy 101" education campaign to explain revenue mechanics and counter misinformation. The meeting also referenced "House Bill 920" (spoken as "House bill 9 20" in the transcript) as a key element affecting revenue behavior.

On capital funding, Speaker 4 clarified that permanent-improvement (PI) dollars are separate from the general fund and that the Buckeye facilities project would be capped at $15,000,000 of PI dollars; Speaker 4 explicitly said the facilities project "is not causing our $4,500,000 deficit" and that PI restrictions should prevent general-fund exposure for building work.

The district described prior savings from exiting an insurance consortium—presenters estimated roughly $1,000,000 in savings realized through benefit changes—and noted staff relations helped facilitate those transitions. The meeting closed with plans for more-detailed presentations and materials at the upcoming retreat and a board meeting.

Next steps: the district will present a more detailed forecast and levy scenarios at the retreat (March 6 referenced in the meeting), hold the county treasurer forum, and publish monthly analytics through the newly adopted software for ongoing monitoring.