Twinsburg voters slammed the brakes on Issue 4 in the May 5 primary, rejecting a proposed 1.25% earned-income tax that district officials said would have brought in roughly $12 million a year. The defeat leaves the Twinsburg City School District staring down deeper cuts after already signing off on about $2 million in reductions, as board members met Wednesday to revisit the district forecast, talk through an independent performance audit, and start sketching out which programs and positions could be on the chopping block.
Official results
According to the Summit County Board of Elections unofficial canvass, the income-tax measure failed 3,949 to 2,346, with 62.73% voting no and 37.27% voting yes. All 22 precincts had reported in the contest, and district turnout was listed at roughly 32.9% on the county report.
What the levy would have funded
Issue 4 would have created the district’s first earned-income tax at 1.25% a year, and officials projected it would raise about $12 million annually, according to Cleveland19. The tax would have applied only to earned income, not pensions or Social Security, and collections were set to begin Jan. 1, 2027, if voters had approved the measure.
Board reaction and audit talk
At a May 6 board meeting, trustees walked through the latest district forecast and listened to public comments on what the levy loss could mean inside classrooms. Cleveland.com reports that Vice President Tina Davis cautioned that current and future students “may not have access to the same opportunities,” and that board members discussed asking the Ohio Auditor of State’s office for a full independent performance audit.
Already-approved cuts and likely next moves
The district had already baked roughly $2 million in reductions into the 2026-27 budget, most of it tied to staffing. Earlier public materials outlined eliminating about 20 positions through attrition or layoffs, according to reporting by the Akron Beacon Journal. District officials have warned that additional program and service reductions, including scaled-back busing and trims to extracurriculars, are likely if no new revenue appears.
Tiger Stadium work will continue
One thing that is not on the cutting-room floor is the renovation at Twinsburg’s Tiger Stadium on the RB Chamberlin Middle School campus. Board materials list the project as a permanent-improvement expenditure, separate from day-to-day operating funds. Public meeting records show the board approved a roughly $1.73 million turf-and-track contract financed from the permanent improvement fund, according to Citizen Portal.
Why Ohio levies are complicated
The district’s five-year forecast, filed with the board in February, projects a cash-reserve shortfall by fiscal 2028 and notes that the state has placed Twinsburg in a fiscal-precaution status. The document lays out the assumptions behind that projection. For a broader context, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has explained how Ohio’s House Bill 920 tax-reduction factors cap how much extra revenue rising property values can generate from existing voted levies. That structure is a big reason many Ohio districts keep returning to voters with income taxes or repeat levies when they need new operating dollars, a dynamic echoed in the district forecast and the Cleveland Fed analysis…