photo by: Joselyn King

Ohio County Board of Education member Molly Aderholt, left, and board President David Croft listen to discussion during a recent board meeting.

WHEELING — Ohio County Schools Business Manager Steven Bieniek informed board of education members this week the school district would likely have about $7 million less to spend in next year’s budget due to a change in how oil and gas valuations are determined.

He said the Ohio County Assessor’s Office has presented their estimated tax values of all property in the district to Ohio County Schools, and preliminary numbers show the amount is down about $475 million in the county from last year.

The result of this is that the excess levy benefiting Ohio County Schools right now is expected to generate about $6 million to $7 million less in 2025-26.

When contacted, Ohio County Assessor Tiffany Hoffman said she could not speak on proposed property values at this time.

Bieniek said he had budgeted for between $45 million and $48 million from the levy. If the board chooses to keep the levy rate at its current rate of 95.5%, about $38 million will result, he told board members.

“It will be a drastic cut,” Bieniek continued.

He noted the school district’s state aid actually will go up as a result of a loss in levy revenue. This is because state aid received from the West Virginia Department of Education is adjusted higher when a school district’s levy rate declines, but Bieniek isn’t certain how much of an offset to losses that might provide.

Ohio County Schools’ current excess levy rate is set at 95.5% of what they may legally tax under state code. Each 1% change in the rate typically equals an increase or decrease of about $276,000 for the school district.

Board members vote on a proposed levy rate the third Tuesday in April each year.

“We’ll see when the numbers are finalized,” said board president David Croft, who is also an attorney and accountant. “Hopefully final numbers aren’t as dreary, but we’ll make due with what we have.”

Bieniek said he is not yet anticipating any changes in Ohio County School’s annual budget, which stands at about $80 million.

Bieniek said state officials had been warning school districts that their levy revenue likely would decrease. As such, he noted Ohio County Schools was prepared.

Croft said the numbers “have rebounded a bit” in recent days.

“At the end of the day it’s not going to be catastrophic, but it’s going to be painful,” he told board members.

Marshall County Schools is expecting to be hit even more by the change in how gas and oil rates are being assessed.

At a board meeting this week, Marshall County School Treasurer Nan Hartley told board of education members to expect a $44 million decrease in its tax levy revenue in the coming fiscal year.

While Superintendent Shelby Haines termed the decrease “significant,” she told board members the district had prepared for an expected decrease in excess levy revenues. In fiscal year 2024, the school district’s excess levy generated $88 million, and that jumped to $135 million for 2025, she reported.

Next year, the levy is projected to generate $93 million — more comparable with 2024 numbers but still slightly above.

“The good news is if you compare 2024 numbers to 2026 numbers, we are pretty stable,” Haines explained.

She added the school district had been advised to consider the higher 2025 revenues “a fluke.”

“We work very closely with Assessor Eric Buzzard, and were alerted ahead of time about the shift,” Haines said. “We looked at it as if we had just had an influx last year.

“It was an opportunity to invest money, work on projects we already had earmarked. We remain stable in our funds,” she explained.