Herald Staff
Three school districts in east Snohomish County are among those planning maintenance and operations levies and bond issues for the Feb. 5 election.
Voters here will be asked to pass a $14.9 million levy that would be collected over two years.
The district has a levy that will expire at the end of the school year. This replacement levy would raise revenues in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years.
The increase to taxpayers is about $2 to $4 a month. A homeowner with a house assessed at $180,000 would pay $489 the first year and $507 the second.
Levies can go from one to four years. Monroe decided on the more traditional two-year proposal because of unstable economic times.
Beyond traditional costs covering textbooks and teachers, the district has earmarked salary enhancements for new teachers and curriculum updating as two areas where levy money will be spent.
The Monroe School District is also asking voters to consider $12 million in bonds to build a new West Monroe elementary school and upgrade technology districtwide.
The bond issue would add $85 the first year to the property tax bill of the owner of a house assessed at $180,000. The bonds would be paid over 20 years.
The money would be used to modernize Maltby Elementary School, creating a computer lab, updating classrooms and library, and taking energy efficiency measures. There has been no major work at the school in 30 years. The cost is about $3 million.
The new elementary school in west Monroe is planned to be 50,500 square feet with a two-story design. Cost is about $6 million.
The remaining $3 million would provide better computer technology for students, Monroe spokeswoman Rosemary O’Neil said.
There are two propositions. One is a four-year maintenance and operations levy and the other is a two-year transportation levy.
The maintenance and operations levy replaces one that expires at the end of this school year. The levy calls for $10.8 million to be funded in 2003, $11 million in 2004, $12.4 million in 2005 and $13.4 million in 2006.
That money is earmarked for teachers support and additional staffing, maintenance of buildings, athletics, student services and instructional technology.
The transportation levy would raise $475,000 in 2003 and 2004 to purchase 10 new buses.
The district has 76 buses, eight of which are 20 years old and have more than 300,000 miles and five that are 15 years old and have been driven more than 250,000 miles.
For a taxpayer with a $180,000 home, that means $576.90 the first year for both levies and $580.50 the second year. In the final two years, that same homeowner would pay $549 for levies.
Snohomish decided on a four-year levy request, Superintendent Neal Powell said, to reduce the costs of having levy elections every two years, and to give the district the stability of four-year planning.
Voters are being asked to pass a four-year $10.3 million maintenance and operations levy, to replace an expiring four-year levy.
The district plans to spend between $2.6 million and $3.1 million a year on general education, including maintaining existing programs and services, teachers salaries, technology, extracurricular activities, buildings and transportation.
For the homeowner of a house valued at $180,000, taxes would be about $660 the first year, $691 the second, $642 the third and $666 the fourth.
Superintendent Al Robinson said if the levy is approved, at least $150,000 of each year’s levy collection would be spent on improvements in technology in the classrooms.
Sky Valley Citizens for Better Schools, a group of about 20 residents led by co-chairwomen Rita Pearsall and Linda Clarke, is campaigning for the levy.
Members have sent out flyers, contacted absentee voters, done general mailing and doorbelling, and will have a phone tree the night before the election, and will be out with signs the day of the election.
In all three districts, voters can cast ballots at the polls or request absentee mail-in ballots. More information on the Monroe and Snohomish levies is available at both districts’ Web sites: www.sno.wednet.edu and www.monroe.wednet.edu.
Proposed levy rates: $2.72 per $1,000 for 2003; $2.82 per $1,000 for 2004
Cost for $180,000 home: $489 for 2003; $507 for 2004
Amount raised: $7.12 million for 2003; $7.7 million for 2004
Construction bonds: $12 million. Rate of 47 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, which translates to about $85 on a $180,000 home, for the first year of a 20-year proposal.
Proposed levy rates: $3.07 per $1,000 for 2003; $3.09 per $1,000 for 2004; $3.05 per $1,000 for 2005 and 2006.
Cost for $180,000 home: $552.60 for 2003; $556.20 for 2004; $549 annually for 2005 and 2006
Amount raised: $10.86 million for 2003; $11.43 million for 2004; $12.4 million for 2005; $13.41 million for 2006.
School bus levy: .135 per $1,000 valuation. That’s $24.30 on a $180,000 home.
Proposed levy rates: $3.67 per $1,000 for 2003; $3.84 per $1,000 for 2004; $3.57 per $1,000 for 2005; $3.72 per $1,000 for 2006.
Cost on a $180,000 home: $660 in 2003; $691 for 2004; $642 for 2005; $669 for 2006.
Amount raised: $2.62 million in 2003; $2.79 million in 2004; $2.97 million in 2005; $3.16 million in 2006.
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