Parma board signals $9 million in cuts, staff outlines levy stop and tax collection timing

Parma school board members and district staff on Tuesday discussed a plan to reduce district spending by $9 million over three years and to stop three emergency property-tax levies together in early 2028, a board work session transcript shows.

District finance staff walked the board through multiple five-year forecast scenarios and said the board’s 60-day cash policy is roughly $26.2 million. Staff recommended options that either pair multi-year spending cuts with staggered levy stops or synchronize levy stoppage to preserve long-term fund balance.

“Our 60-day cash policy is about $26.2 million,” a district finance staff member explained during the presentation, pointing to scenarios that leave unreserved balances between the high-20s and mid-30s (millions) in some forecasts. The staff member added that dropping below that threshold would require the board to consider new revenue sources under district policy.

On timing, district staff said a school-district income tax would take effect Nov. 1, 2027, and that meaningful remittances would likely begin the following April because withholdings and quarterly remittances take time to ramp up. “We’d start getting collections probably in April because it’s quarterly,” the staff member said, adding that first-year receipts often amount to only about 5 percent of full-year expectation as employers and taxpayers adjust.

Dr. Hunt, a district official, told the board that $3 million in reductions for the 2027–28 year is a realistic target that could be achieved without broadly affecting classrooms, but said larger cuts would have sharper consequences. “I think we could hit $3 million. I think 4 million would hurt a little. I think 5 million would hurt a lot,” Dr. Hunt said.

Board members debated whether to phase levy forgiveness (one levy forgiven each Jan. 1 in 2027, 2028 and 2029) or to have all levy stops take effect together. Staff said synchronizing levy stops on Jan. 1, 2028 would be the most likely path to keep unreserved balances above the 60-day policy across the forecast period.

Several members said they were comfortable starting with $3 million in cuts next year and revisiting reductions in the subsequent years. After discussing several scenarios, members coalesced around a working plan of $9 million in cuts over three years with emergency levy stoppage effective Jan. 1, 2028; board members asked staff to prepare a resolution for the evening meeting that would carry a three-year total rather than year-by-year dollar assignments.

The board did not adopt a final budget or formally approve the levy schedule at the work session; members instructed staff to draft an amendment to the resolution for the 6 p.m. meeting. The only formal action recorded in the transcript was a motion to adopt Resolution 2026-03-119 to adjourn the meeting, which carried on roll call.

Next steps: staff will prepare the resolution language for the 6 p.m. meeting, reflecting a three-year total for cuts and the proposed levy-stoppage timing; the board plans to revisit the detailed breakdown of reductions next year if needed.