EVERETT — Voters in two school districts now will wait until April to cast ballots on property tax levies instead of in February as previously planned.
Snohomish County Auditor Carolyn Weikel said Wednesday that Stanwood-Camano and Lakewood school districts failed to turn in the necessary paperwork to meet the deadline for placement on the Feb. 14 ballot.
Officials in both districts said they believed they had mailed filing information to the county auditor in time to meet the Dec. 30 deadline.
In Lakewood, Superintendent Dennis Haddock said district officials and levy campaign volunteers had been working hard since September to prepare for the February election.
Haddock said he would recommend to the Lakewood School Board that the district request to be placed on the April 17 ballot.
In the Stanwood-Camano School District, Superintendent Jean Shumate also decided that the April 17 ballot is OK for her district.
“We are moving to the April date because the measure was not received by the county auditor by the filing deadline and to give us more information about revenue from other sources,” Shumate said in an emailed statement. “The later election will not affect district operations or funding in any way, and the later date will probably give us a better indication of education funding by the Legislature and what that means to the Stanwood-Camano Schools.”
The school districts with property tax levy measures on the Feb. 14 ballot are Edmonds, Granite Falls, Monroe, Arlington and Darrington.
Darrington launched its levy campaign Wednesday, seeking a two-year, $2.6 million levy to fund educational programs and operations. About 24 percent of the district’s funding comes from local taxes, said school district business manager Lori McLeod.
If approved, the annual rate of taxation during 2013 and 2014 would be about $3.80 per $1,000 of assessed value. The owner of a $200,000 house would pay about $760 a year. To learn more about Darrington’s levy request, go to www.dsd.k12.wa.us.
For more information on the levies in the other school districts, go to www.edmonds.wednet.edu for Edmonds, www.monroe.wednet.edu for Monroe, www.gfalls.wednet.edu for Granite Falls and www.asd.wednet.edu for Arlington.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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