Exactly half of the voters (620) said “yes” and “no” (620) to a 10-year renewal request of Madison School District’s 4-mill property tax levy.
This was the first tax issue the district has sought since 2022, when voters said “no” to an earned income tax on that year’s spring ballot.
Since that rejection, Madison school officials have made operating budget cuts to balance the books. With the cuts, the district raised pay-to-participate fees by $200 per activity with no family maximum. Madison also cut some teaching positions, and 30 supplemental teaching and coaching positions were defunded.
The matter will likely be decided when Election Day provisional votes and late-arriving mailed-in ballots are counted during the official run of the election. Butler County Board of Elections reported three provisional votes were cast on Election Day in the Madison voting area, and the official run of the election is scheduled for May 22.
A failure means more cuts and pay-to-participate fees doubling to $400 per activity with no family maximum.
Madison Schools Superintendent Jeff Staggs declined to comment until the election results are finalized.
In an extremely low turnout for Tuesday’s election, only 7.6% of registered voters participated in the weeks during early voting and on Election Day.
Edgewood schools
While Madison will have to wait to find out its levy’s fate, Edgewood City School voters narrowly said “yes” to a 4.45-mill, five-year substitute levy by way of a 51.3% to 48.7% vote, according to the unofficial vote.
“We are extremely grateful that the community chose to renew our substitute levy,” said Edgewood Superintendent Curtis Philpot. “Many thanks go to those folks who got the word out and shared our story. Edgewood certainly isn’t perfect, and there are still many challenges ahead, but the Edgewood community is proud and takes care of each other, and this time they took care of us.”
The Edgewood district had faced a $2.9 million operating deficit if the property tax levy had not been approved. Even though the levy passed, cuts would still be needed, according to school officials.
The district will need to cut about $1 million from the operating budget, including busing and learning programs, coupled with reductions in administrative and school staffing through attrition, officials have said.
With the passage of the levy, property taxes will not increase. The new levy will take effect in January, and property owners will continue to pay $156 per $100,000 in home valuation.
The MidPointe Library System levy received nearly two-to-one om support as voters passed the organization’s levy request, according to preliminary, unofficial election results in Butler and Warren counties.
Voters approved the levy with 64.6% of the vote, according to unofficial Butler and Warren county election results. The MidPointe Library System services the Middletown, West Chester Twp., Trenton, Monroe and Liberty Twp. communities.
The library asked voters for a five-year, 0.75-mill replacement levy. Though voters have renewed the 2010 levy twice in the past 15 years, the library needed additional funds, having operated without an increase in tax revenues over that time. In November, voters rejected a continuing levy request.
MidPointe Library spokesperson Cari Hillman said the system is “deeply grateful to the voters for their support.”
“Their commitment to literacy, to learning, and to community, really, ensures that our library continues to provide vital resources, programs and services to people of all ages,” she said. “We want to be here for our community in any way that we can, and provide whatever kind of support they need.”
The levy will generate $5.7 million a year, replacing the levy voters approved in 2010 and renewed in 2015 and 2020. Residents would pay $26.25 annually for every $100,000 in home valuation.
If voters turned down the library’s levy request, that resulted in cuts in programming, material, service and operational hours for the 180,000 library cardholders systemwide.
In Warren County, voters rejected the Franklin school district’s tax levy request with 65.8% against the levy and 34.2% for the levy, according to unofficial election results.
In January, Franklin’s Board of Education voted to place an emergency five-year, 6.301-mill property tax levy on the ballot that would raise more than $4.5 million annually to fund district operating costs.
It has been 11 years since Franklin City Schools last had a new-money levy pass for daily operating costs, which makes good on the district’s promise that the 2014 levy would last eight to 10 years, Superintendent Michael Sander said.
The district outlined $1.2 million in cuts for the 2025-26 academic year that will be implemented since the levy’s failure. These cuts include eliminating all-day kindergarten, reducing busing to state minimum levels with no high school transportation, and implementing higher school fees and larger class sizes.
According to the district’s five-year budget forecast, Franklin began this school year with less than 10% of a year’s spending in the bank, which is the lowest in the region.
Franklin voters also rejected a 4.9-mill property tax levy by 54.3% to 46.7% for fire department operations and equipment, according to unofficial Warren County election results.
Franklin voters were deciding on a permanent 4.9-mill property tax levy to fund fire department operations and equipment.
The city’s last tax levy request for additional fire department funding was in 2012, at which point they promised not to come back to voters for 10 years.
City officials said the average age of the fire division’s vehicle fleet is 22 years, contributing to higher and higher maintenance fees. They also said the department has a staffing shortage and that a grant that helps pay for personnel expires at the end of 2026.
