FEATS OF READING B1
Programs like "Flip-Flop Fiesta" at the Sharonville Branch Library kept customers coming back. By any measure, 2011 was “one for the books” at local public libraries. Find out what your neighbors were reading – and renting.
Correction The Wyoming Schools bond issue on the March 6 ballot is 4.79 mills. The millage was listed incorrectly in the Jan. 25 TriCounty Press.
Primary letters Want to make your opinion known about a candidate or issue on the March 6 ballot? Start writing. The deadline for electionsrelated letters to the editor and guest columns is noon Friday, Feb. 17. Letters should be 200 words or fewer; guest columns should be 500 words or fewer, and include a color head shot and short bio of the author. Candidates and groups supporting or opposing ballot issues are limited to one column before the election. We reserve the right to edit all columns and letters. We will print as many as we can. All letters and columns will be posted online at Cincinnati.com. E-mail letters or columns to tricountypress@communitypress.com, or rmaloney@communitypress.com.
TRI-COUNTY PRESS
Your Community Press newspaper serving Evendale, Glendale, Sharonville, Springdale, Wyoming
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012
50¢
BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
Princeton cuts could close school, cost busing By Kelly McBride kmcbride@communitypress.com
The Princeton Board of Education approved two plans of action to cut millions from the district budget, regardless of whether an operating levy passes in March. After a special board meeting, four members of the school board, along with Superintendent Gary Pack and Treasurer Jim Rowan, released the revised list of cuts necessary to balance a budget that has been drastically reduced over the past few years. Board President Steve Moore, flanked by board members Sandy Leach, Susan Wyder and Tawana Keels, read a statement that reminded voters that the district hadn't asked for an increase in operating funds for 13 years. Board Member Lillian Hawkins wasn't present.
Moore reminded voters that the district must ask for those funds because Princeton has lost $28.4 million since 2004, when tangible personal property tax was eliminated. "When that happened, the state said we're going to give it back to you, this is temporary," Pack said. “But eight years later, we're still waiting, and that's problematic," he said. "We understand that the state was hit with a recession, but the state of Ohio promised they'd give that money back, and they never did." The current budget of $74 million is $6 million less than last year in the district that currently has 730 employees and educates 5,500 students. Among the cuts needed even with passage of the 6.5 mill levy will be reductions in staff supplemental contracts and overtime. Building and departmen-
tal budgets will shrink by 10 percent. That $1.3 million in cuts is just the first year. In year two, support staff for general and special education will see a half-million-dollar reduction and building and department budgets will endure another 10 percent cut. The district will also establish pay-to-participate for sports, music and extra-curricular activities. If the levy doesn't pass, the pay-to-participate fees will double, from $100 for the first activity and $50 for the second, to $200 and $100. Class sizes will jump to 30-35 students, and one elementary school will close. The buildings will close every day at 4 p.m., to save energy costs. Currently, most are open for community use until as late as 9 p.m. Middle school and high
school busing will also be eliminated if the levy doesn't pass. "This is why Princeton has to pass the levy," Pack said. The operating levy will cost $197.63 annually per $100,000 home market value. Seniors would pay $148.22 per $100,000 property assessment. Moore also reminded voters that the district would have had to ask for 8 mills to balance the budget, but opted instead to ask for a smaller amount and make the cuts approved on Friday. "This cuts deeper and deeper into the core of what impacts the student," he said. "There is no question," Pack said, "it will change how we educate our children at Princeton." For more about your community, visit www.Cincinnati.com/local. Get regular Sharonville updates by signing up for our email newsletter. Visit Cincinnati.com/Sharonville.
Levy questions Voters in both the Princeton and Wyoming school districts have less than two months to decide whether to support tax increases in their district. Princeton is asking for a 6.5-mill additional continuing tax levy, and Wyoming is seeking for a 4.79-mill, 37-year bond issue, on the March 6 ballot. What questions do you have about these ballot issues? E-mail questions to tricountypress@communitypress.com, or rmaloney@communitypress.com
Signature win With its 70-66 win over No. 1-ranked Mason, the Princeton High School boys basketball team may have gotten the win it needed to prove the Vikings belong among the city’s top programs. See Sports, A5
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Vol. 28 No. 22 © 2012 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This aerial photo, taken Jan. 15, shows the Twin Creek Preserve in Sharonville. KELLY MCBRIDE/THE COMMUNITY PRESS
Preserve gives creek new life By Kelly McBride kmcbride@communitypress.com
SHARONVILLE — Twin Creek Preserve has been opened to the Mill Creek, after a collaborative project to rechannel the waterway and enhance its value to the community. At a ceremony Jan. 23, crews removed an earthen barrier that had diverted the water while the new channel was prepared. "When they removed the barrier, the water will now flow as designed through the new path, the new creek bed," Sharonville Mayor Virgil Lovitt said. "There are more steps, but the actual flood control project is now operational," he said. Still to come are restrooms, planned for construction next year, and the completion of a
soccer field complex at the entrance to the preserve located at the end of Best Place, off Crescentville Road. The Twin Creek Preserve project was a collaborative effort to restore the waterway and reconstruct the wetland. The Mill Creek Watershed Council of Communities worked with the Butler County Water and Sewer Department, the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati and the city of Sharonville to rechannel the site. Because of industrial development, the area near the I-75 and I-275 interchange has suffered polluted water, eroded stream banks, an increase in runoff and flooding, among other concerns. The $2 million project creat-
ed an 8.3-acre wetland and nature preserve, with more than 2,100 feet of restored stream channel and a riparian floodplain to minimize the danger of flooding. It included channel redesign, floodplain restoration, riparian restoration with native trees and shrubs, habitat within the stream and creation of a recreation/education trail. "The trails will be open in the spring," Lovitt said. "It's too muddy to walk right now." Project goals included improved water quality; improved land and aquatic habitats; reduced flooding; and recreational and educational opportunities. Funding for the Twin Creek Preserve project came from the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program of the Ohio
Water Pollution Control Loan Fund, and Section 319 Non-Point Source Implementation Grant. Both are administered by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. "This is an important project," the mayor said, "because it provides flood protection ot the businesses downstream, during small-to-medium floods. "And it creates passive recreation with the walking trails," Lovitt said, "and active recreation with the new soccer complex." For more about your community, visit www.Cincinnati.com/Sharonville. Get regular Sharonville updates by signing up for our email newsletter. Visit Cincinnati.com/Sharonville.