The superintendent of Findlay City Schools says the district will waste no time in trying again after their operating levy was voted down in the Tuesday primary.

Ed Kurt says they need to keep asking the community for support because they’re in an operational deficit.

He says they plan on putting the operating levy on the ballot in the August 4th special election and if that’s unsuccessful they would put it on the November ballot.

Kurt says, with this levy defeat, they’ll already have to make some personnel cuts for the next school year and he says a defeat in August and November would result in cuts that in his opinion would “cripple” the district.

Kurt says he wants voters to know that this levy is necessary just to allow the district to maintain what they’re doing and to continue providing the opportunities students are used to.

He says he’s very proud of the levy committee and everyone that worked so hard and that they were confident going into the election.

However, he believes what the pandemic has done to the economy hurt their chances of passing the levy.

Unofficial results from the Hancock County Board of Elections show the levy failing by a vote of 4,438 to 3,979, or 52 to 46 percent.

The school district said the five-year 5.9 mill levy would have generated about $5 million annually.

The levy would have cost a homeowner $206.50 for each $100,000 of home value.

That’s a little more than $17 a month that would be added to your school taxes.