EVERETT — The Everett School Board is getting closer to finalizing a $90 million capital levy proposal for the February 2016 ballot.
The board initially took up the idea in June to run a six-year technology and maintenance levy in 2016 and postponing a larger capital bond until 2018.
Other options, such as putting the bond on the ballot next year and postponing the levy, or attempting to do both in 2016, now look less likely.
The board is scheduled to formally consider a ballot measure at its Nov. 17 meeting. The filing deadline for the February 2016 ballot is Dec. 11.
Meanwhile, the district has been conducting a variety of public outreach initiatives, both online and in the community. One such meeting was held Thursday at Evergreen Middle School, and another meeting is scheduled for Oct. 13 at Heatherwood Middle.
In February 2014, Everett Public Schools put a $259.4 million capital bond on the ballot, but it failed to reach the 60 percent supermajority in order to pass. The district re-ran the bond measure two months later and it failed again by the same two-point margin.
That has made the board skittish about running another bond when there is still residual anger directed against the district from the construction of its new $28.3 million administration building in 2013.
“I think we have to be honest with ourselves and say we experienced two bond failures last year,” board director Ted Wenta said. “We need to make sure we can put things before the public that they can support.”
A larger, longer-term capital bond to fund school construction and other big-ticket items would also need a 60 percent supermajority to pass, whereas a levy would need just a simple majority.
The planned levy would raise $90 million for such initiatives as technology upgrades and infrastructure, physical safety and security upgrades, 10 new portable classrooms and other items.
It would also provide funding for the first stages of a long-term plan to provide a computer to every student in the district. The current levy proposal would fund those for all middle and high school students.
“It’s exciting, I think this could really be a game changer for our students,” Wenta said.
The levy replaces one that expires at the end of 2016, so taxpayers would see their 2017 property taxes go up by a net 53 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, about $160 per year on a $300,000 home.
If the levy passes, the total tax bill for school-related issues in the district would be $5.77 per $1,000 valuation. That includes the new proposed levy as well as older bonds with longer maturity periods that are still being paid off.
Jeff Moore, the executive director of finance and business services for Everett Public Schools, said the debt would be structured so that in the first two years, the total impact of the levy on tax rates would be $1.16 per $1,000 in valuation. The levy rate would then drop to 76 cents in 2019.
The reason the debt is structured this way is to make room for future bond issues, Moore said.
Levies only raise a fixed amount of money, and the actual levy rate may vary based on how property values in the district fluctuate.
The current total tax burden for school-related issues is $5.48 per $1,000, and it is estimated the 2016 figure will be $5.24 per $1,000.
The levy would be a little larger than the original $80 million issue proposed earlier in the year because the board decided to include more safety and security items, said Mike Gunn, the district’s executive director of facilities and operations.
Those include things like upgrades to building access and controls, security vestibules and computer network security.
Under the scenario under consideration by the school board, the levy in 2016 would be followed by a $387.4 million capital bond in 2018 for big-ticket projects, including $211.5 million in new construction.
That includes a new elementary school and a new high school, eight additional elementary classrooms elsewhere, and 16 portable classrooms. Another $101.1 million would be earmarked for modernization of North Middle School, Woodside Elementary, and the Everett High School cafeteria and security enclosure.
The district already owns land south of the Mill Creek city limits for the new proposed schools along 180th Street SE, east of Sunset Road, Gunn said, although it may seek to buy adjacent parcels.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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