Moses Lake replacement levy runs again
Levy election is set for Tuesday, April 27
The aftermath of a levy failure is filled with questions, doubts and angst. Last month, the Moses Lake School District's levy failed by only 28 votes, barely missing the required 60 percent supermajority of voters the State of Washington requires.
After the school district learned the disappointing results of the election, the school board and citizens' levy committee went back to the drawing board, first, to determine what, if anything, needed to be done differently and secondly, to set a new amount.
"We did lower it and it worked out well," said P.J. De Benedetti, spokesman for the school district. "I think the levy committee felt really strongly that it's a minimal request."
A lower levy amount was set at a March school board meeting, with $6,845,291 to be collected in 2005 and $7,139,638 in 2006.
The new amount is $75,000 less during 2005 and $98,519 less in 2006. The amount per $1,000 also decreased and is now down by four cents to $3.45. For a house assessed at $100,000, property owners would pay $345 in property taxes in 2005 and $336 in 2006.
The upcoming levy request is a replacement levy. This is what the school district wants voters to remember when they cast their votes on Tuesday, April 27 or when studying their absentee and vote-by-mail ballots later this week.
The replacement factor is one of the main questions De Benedetti said he has received from voters since the last levy election.
The other? What happens if the levy fails. For one, the district will not receive state equalization dollars, making the loss a double blow. In addition, next year's and the following year's budgets will be impacted, because those funds will not be included in the budget.
According to an information levy brochure provided by the district, the levy provides about 13 percent of budget revenues for the school district. Nearly $2 million in state equalization money would be lost for the district if the levy fails.
Another question that cropped up was about the assessed valuation aspect of the levy. Some voters believed that when property in the school district is reassessed, that the district receives more money.
Not so, De Benedetti said. "The amount of money we get stays the same," he explained.
The levy request has decreased since the last election, due to more state equalization dollars and an effort by the school board to make the package more desirable for voters.
De Benedetti called the additional equalization dollars one of the positive aspects of the Legislative session.
De Benedetti named the school activities funded by the levy that have enjoyed recent successes — with the high school drill team, state History Day and Science Olympiad as some of those activities.
"There's lots of programs that have positive impacts on kids that are levy-funded," De Benedetti said.
He also mentioned another expense-related area for the district — curriculum adoptions. The district paid over $100,000 for a language arts adoption for second- through fifth-grades, which was important, but also expensive, he added.
This year's levy request covers funding for curriculums in other subjects and related textbooks, elementary music and physical education teachers, vocational equipment, elementary counseling, special education, elementary library services, transportation, school resource officers, the gifted program, sports, technology, co-curricular activities and maintenance.