School boards OK levies

This August, voters in the Everett and Edmonds school districts will decide whether to approve further increasing property taxes to help soften the blow of state cuts to district budgets.

The Everett and Edmonds school boards each recently approved supplemental levies to be included on Aug. 17 primary ballots.

These levies follow the Legislature’s decision allowing for school districts to lift the lid on property tax levies by 4 percent for 2011-2017, allowing districts to ask voters for more money.

The Everett School Board approved a four-year supplemental levy that would generate $4 million per year in revenue. School board member Jessica Olson was the lone “no” vote.

Taxpayers would be charged 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year. The owner of a $350,000 home would be charged an additional $87 per year. The tax rate would drop to 24 cents during the second and third years and to 23 cents during the fourth year.

In Edmonds, the school board approved a four-year supplemental levy expected to bring $7 million into the district’s general fund, per year. Taxpayers would be charged an additional 31 cents per $1,000 assessed value for two years and 30 cents for another two years. The owner of $350,000 home would be charged an additional $108 per year.

Asking too much?

Everett School Board member Olson said levy proponents there have criticized her for not caring about students and their education. Their accusations are “hogwash,” she said.

Olson agreed the supplemental levy would benefit students, but officials need to be respectful of the impacts that increasing taxes will have on those who pay.

“It’s too high of a tax to impose on the voters, especially in light of the fact we just passed a levy,” she said.

Olson said the district promised taxes wouldn’t increase when voters approved a $40 million operations levy earlier this year.

“It’s not right to put this on the backs of the voters,” she said.

Since 2004, the district’s spending has increased at a rate higher than that of enrollment, Olson said. She said there are other areas within the district that could be trimmed, but she said she couldn’t get into specifics because it’s difficult for individual school board members to get information from district officials.

District spokeswoman Mary Waggoner said the supplemental levy is the Legislature’s way of helping districts offset unprecedented state budget cuts for schools.

“The temporary supplemental educational programs and operations levy will help maintain programs aimed at improved student learning,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Waggoner said it’s important to note that the district may not see its revenue go up by $4 million, even if voters approve the measure. That’s because federal stimulus dollars, which have been helping to prop up schools, are expected to disappear next year.

For example, Everett this fiscal year receives $2.3 million in federal stimulus dollars through the state to offset lost Initiative 728 dollars, earmarked for class size reduction and other school improvement measures. The district last fiscal year received $8.08 million from I-728.

Budget forecast: murky

In Edmonds, Andy Simonsen, a parent and chair of Citizens for Schools, said predicting how the state and district budgets will change is like guessing the weather.

“There’s been volatility in Olympia,” Simonsen said. “The state has done a poor job funding education. Our supporters know our hands are tied.”

Simonsen said the Edmonds district has a great partnership with the community, and asking them to vote for the levy is the right thing to do.

“Asking isn’t going to damage our relationship; it could improve it,” he said.

District spokeswoman D.J. Jakala said school leaders have been transparent with the community and done what they said they would with taxpayer dollars.

“Our relationship with the community has a strong foundation based off doing the right thing,” Jakala said.

School board President Susan Phillips said it’s a tough sell to go before the voters with a levy, particularly in this economic climate. But it’s the district’s obligation to see what voters would decide, she said.

“We’d be remiss if we didn’t,” she said.

Goal is to offset cuts

Both school districts have reduced their budgets in light of funding cuts at the state level.

Earlier, the Everett School Board approved cutting $3.8 million from the district’s general fund to balance the 2010-11 budget. The board will approve the final 2010-11 budget this summer.

Edmonds School District officials have identified $4 million in cuts to whittle a $6.4 million deficit. They have asked the community for feedback on where to trim the remaining $3.3 million.

Local maintenance and operations levies make up about one-fifth of school districts’ day-to-day operations budgets and by law must be renewed by voters, typically every four years. Voters in both Edmonds and Everett approved renewing the levies earlier this year.

Under those levies alone, Edmonds taxpayers in 2011 are slated to pay $1.64 per $1,000 assessed value, or $574 for the owner of a $350,000 home. Everett taxpayers in 2011 are slated to pay $2.52 per $1,000 assessed value, or $882 for the owner of a $350,000 home.

Everett voters earlier this year also approved a six-year building repair and technology levy that starts at $0.50 per $1,000 assessed value.

In all, school-related taxes this year total $3.42 per $1,000 assessed value in Edmonds — or $1,197 for the owner of a $350,000 home — and $4.62 per $1,000 assessed value in Everett, or $1,619 on a $350,000 home.