Early voting is underway ahead of Tuesday’s elections. In Montgomery County, voters will consider a levy to continue funding Sinclair Community College.
Issue 4 asks voters to approve 3.2 mills for 10 years of Sinclair operating and capital expenses. The renewal measure would not raise taxes.
Sinclair president Steven Johnson says the levy generates a sizable portion of the school’s funding.
“The Montgomery County levy for Sinclair Community College has consistently been about 20 percent of Sinclair’s revenue, so that is not a new thing," he says. "That 20 percent proportion is pretty consistent.”
Issue 4 has attracted some criticism this fall. A group calling itself Keep Sinclair Fair has run anti-levy ads paid for by the “Reconstructing Dayton PAC.”
The group’s website says Montgomery County’s levy for Sinclair is unfair because nearby counties with satellite campuses are not equally taxed.
Johnson disputes this characterization, saying, if voters approve Issue 4, the funds will support the school’s Dayton campus.
“All of the Montgomery County levy proceeds must stay in Montgomery County and be used on Montgomery County operations – and that’s by law, that’s by state law,” he says.
He notes students at Sinclair satellite campuses have fewer degree offerings and they pay around 50 percent more in tuition. The Montgomery County levy for Sinclair has been in place since the Sixties.
You can read about more issues facing voters this fall in the League Of Women Voters Voters Guide.
