SNOHOMISH — A $261 million bond measure rejected by voters earlier this month is expected to back on the May ballot for the Snohomish School District.
The proposal received 57.2 percent approval from voters March 11, falling short of the 60 percent supermajority it needed to pass.
Today is the deadline to submit measures for the May 20 ballot. The Snohomish School Board voted Wednesday night to try again.
That decision was based on feedback from more than 450 residents through public forums, e-mails and a telephone survey.
“The overwhelming message was to put the same measure out again soon,” said Betty Robertson, acting superintendent for the district.
The survey found no consensus on projects voters want to see deleted from the bond proposal, Robertson added.
The bond would allow the district to finish a major construction project at Snohomish High School. It also would renovate and expand Valley View Middle School, expand Centennial Middle School, replace Machias and Riverview elementary schools, build a new aquatics center for school and community use, and improve technology.
Construction crews are already working on Snohomish High School with previously approved bond money.
A $141 million bond measure voters passed in 2004 provided money for several projects, including Glacier Peak High School, which is scheduled to open next fall, and Little Cedars Elementary School, which opened in September. There wasn’t enough money to finish the work at Snohomish High.
The 2004 bond, which passed with 61 percent approval, included $63.8 million to modernize Snohomish High. The current estimated total project cost is $110.8 million.
Among the projects under way is a new three-story, 28-classroom building scheduled to open this fall.
The next phase would include building a new library media center and performing arts center, demolishing one building and renovating another, and completing a new bus loop and visitor parking.
The tax would collect from property owners an estimated 19 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, school district officials said.
That means the owner of a $400,000 house would pay an additional $76 a year.
By the time bond’s tax would be collected, a bus levy that costs 22 cents per $1,000 of assessed value would expire. That means the combined tax rate for the school maintenance and operation levies and bonds would be $4.45 per $1,000 in 2009, according to school district estimates, or an annual tax bill of $1,780 for a $400,000 house.
The May 20 election will be an all-mail ballot. Ballots will be mailed about May 1, said Garth Fell, elections manager for Snohomish County.
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