STANWOOD — The Stanwood-Camano School Board decided Tuesday night to ask voters to renew a levy for maintenance and operations in the district’s 10 schools.
Voters passed a four-year levy in 2012 that is set to expire at the end of 2016. They’ll be asked to renew it for another four years, in order to raise an estimated $51.3 million. The election is Feb. 9.
The levy would need a simple majority, or more than 50 percent, of the vote to pass. The district is estimating the rate would be $2.284 per $1,000 assessed property value, or about $685 per year on a $300,000 home. That could be adjusted based on annual property values within the district, according to school board documents.
The district has about 4,200 students in five elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and two alternative schools. The total budget for the 2015-16 school year is $50.7 million. Just over $11 million, or about 22 percent, comes from the local levy.
Levy dollars are spread across the district, officials say. The money goes toward supplies, transportation, teacher pay, special education programs, extracurriculars and in-school meals. Some of the money also is used to maintain and repair buildings, and cover utility costs. This year, it paid for full-day kindergarten for all kindergartners, said Gary Platt, the district’s executive director of business services.
If voters renew the levy, it would generate roughly $12.2 million to be collected in 2017, $12.6 million in 2018, $13 million in 2019 and $13.5 million in 2020. District officials are assuming there will be no change in statewide taxing limits, increases in property values each year and no substantial financial effect from declining enrollment, according to board documents.
The district does not have any outstanding bonds for major construction. There is one other levy on the books through 2017 for upgrades to school buildings and technology. The tax rate for that levy is set to drop about 90 percent — from $1.44 per $1,000 assessed value to 15 cents per $1,000 — in 2018, when it will fund technology but not building improvements, Platt said.
Until then, a maintenance and operations renewal combined with the outstanding facilities and technology levy would total about $3.72 per $1,000 assessed value, or about $1,116 per year on a $300,000 home.
“We have already conducted over 50 meetings with local community groups (and) clubs,” Platt said in an email Wednesday.
“Any future public discussions of the replacement levy will be held during regularly scheduled board meetings.”
Officials plan to mail a flier about the levy by the end of the month.
The Stanwood-Camano School Board does not have any other measures for the February ballot, Platt said.
A chart of existing and planned school tax measures shows voters renewing the maintenance and operations levy again in 2020 and 2024. The district also is looking at building a new high school and might seek voter approval in 2017 for a bond measure.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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