MONROE — Voters in the Monroe School District soon will decide if they’re willing to open their wallets to improve school buildings and replace school buses.
Three propositions — a capital projects levy, a transportation levy and a construction bond — are on the April 27 mail-in ballot.
“I think our community would be hard pressed to find any extravagances in anything we have proposed,” said Greg Accetturo, Monroe School Board president.
Proposition 1 is a four-year technology and capital projects levy that would replace a two-year levy voters approved in 2008. It includes a long list of projects, such as new roofs and heating systems at schools around the district. The levy also allows the district to maintain and upgrade technology in classrooms.
It would raise about $2.75 million a year, roughly $11 million over the four years. The rate would be 51 cents per $1,000 in 2011 and reach 59 cents per $1,000 in 2013.
That would cost the owner of a $300,000 home between $153 the first two years, rising to $177 the last two. The rate of the expiring capital projects levy is 48 cents per $1,000, which is $144 on a $300,000 home.
Accetturo said it makes sense to try to make the improvements now because “it costs a lot more to fix things after they fail.”
Debra Kolrud, a Monroe School Board member, said she voted against the levy.
She was troubled by the way the district presented the levy information as a replacement levy showing the difference between the expiring rate and the new proposed rate.
From Kolrud’s perspective, the district should have been telling people how much they would be paying overall, not just how much more they will pay if the levy is renewed.
Proposition 2 is a two-year transportation levy to replace aging buses that are between 18 and 25 years old.
It would raise $800,000 over two years and cost 8 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s $24 on a $300,000 home. The plan is to seek two more two-year transportation levies over the next decade to upgrade the fleet and qualify for $5 million in state matching money.
Proposition 3 is a 20-year bond that would renovate 30-year-old classrooms at Park Place Middle School; add classrooms for science, a materials lab and technology at Hidden River Middle School; and add classrooms, including a computer lab and for special education, at Frank Wagner Elementary School. Monroe High School would get more space for PE, including a “mat room” for gymnastics and aerobics instruction during the day and wrestling after school, and add year-round surfaces to softball and baseball fields.
The bond also would allow the district to close Monroe Middle School as a middle school and use the campus for other programs, such as the Leaders in Learning alternative high school now housed in a converted bus garage. It also could be used to house other district services.
Having two middle schools instead of three would allow the district to offer a broader curriculum because there would be more students at each campus to fill elective course offerings, said Rosemary O’Neil, a school district spokeswoman.
Park Place would have about 850 students and Hidden River around 650.
The bond would cost 43 cents per $1,000 of assessed value in 2011. That’s $129 on a $300,000 home.
Kolrud said she also voted against the bond. She believes the district should have made a point to tell voters that the costs will be added to previously approved bond costs. When old and new bond rates are combined, voters will be paying 52 cents per $1,000 more than they are now.
“You are not voting on existing taxes that have already been approved,” Accetturo said.
District officials say they have included a breakdown of existing and projected tax rates in campaign information they have distributed to the community and posted on their Web site, www.monroe.wednet.edu.
Kolrud said she also is concerned with the estimated cost of $391 per square foot to renovate Park Place Middle School.
Superintendent Ken Hoover said the cost estimates come from architects who have studied recent bids for school construction projects in the region.
“It is the true cost,” he said.
Hoover said the district also would qualify for $16.2 million in state matching money for building construction if the bond passes.
Kolrud said she is concerned with the overall tax rate for the district’s taxpayers. If all three school measures pass, the rate would increase by 90 percent from $2.54 per $1,000 in 2008 to $4.82 per $1,000 in 2011.
“That’s asking a lot in this economy,” she said.
Bonds require a 60 percent “yes” vote; levies require a simple majority.
Ballots must be postmarked by April 27.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
Election coverage
The April 27 special-election ballot includes tax measures in Everett, Marysville, Monroe and Index. Here’s a schedule of stories on each measure:
Sunday: Marysville School District bond measure
Monday: Index maintenance and operation levy
Today: Monroe School District levy and bond propositions
Wednesday: City of Everett emergency services levy lid lift
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