Soap Lake schools hope to renew levy

SOAP LAKE - Soap Lake School District administrators are hoping voters will extend a maintenance and operations levy for another four years.

The measure is on a Feb. 14 special election ballot.

If approved, it would authorize the district to replace an expiring two-year levy approved in 2008.

The new rate per $1,000 of assessed property value would be $3.85, which is roughly the same as the current rate.

"This is not a new tax," a district newsletter states. "The replacement (maintenance and operations) levy should not increase your taxes. The intent is to keep homeowner's costs approximately the same per $1,000 property value."

Seniors are potentially eligible for a reduction in taxes if they own the property and their annual income is less than $35,000, according to information from the Grant County Assessor's office.

If it passes, the new levy is expected to raise $714,303 in 2013, $742,875 in 2014, $772,590 in 2015 and $803,494 in 2016.

The money would be applied toward a number of things, according to Superintendent Dan McDonald, who said it would help satisfy state mandates, maintain school facilities, keep small class sizes and assist with continued funding for everything from student transportation to extra curricular activities.

If the measure fails the district would lose more than $1 million annually, in part because it would mean a lack of matching funds for the tentative equalization dollars Soap Lake receives from the state.

Like most smaller districts, McDonald said Soap Lake is warily eyeing what the state Legislature does in regards to funding basic education.

There has been talk the state might cut as much as 20 percent of levy equalization funding - dollars used to balance property poor districts with those flush with tax income - but he believes reductions will be more shallow.

"I heard cuts are not going to be that bad, maybe more like 5 percent," he said. "It may not be as bad as we anticipate, but initially we were anticipating losing about $500,000, which for us, that's a huge amount of money. That's 3 to 4 teachers."

Despite ongoing funding reductions and unfunded state mandates, McDonald said Soap Lake is in better shape than some other districts due to a number of grant awards they've received over the past few years. They're also benefiting from a hike in student population this year, reversing a trend that had them losing more than 100 students over the past six years.

"If we didn't have 51 new students, I'd be singing a different tune, but those students help us," he said. "We were laying people off, now this year we were hiring people. Numbers drive your capacities because the state isn't looking at putting anymore money out anytime soon."

This forces property poor districts to rely heavily on local taxpayers, he said.

"It's unfair," he said. "(The state has) put a tremendous tax burden on the local people. Local taxpayers in Soap Lake and Ephrata, they support their schools. It's a big burden for our constituents out here once tax time comes."

McDonald said the Soap Lake district is trying to keep that price as affordable as possible while maintaining their level of service.

While the inflation rate on levies over the past 14 years or so has averaged about 9 percent, he said the proposed levy will reduce that inflation rate to 4 percent for the next four years.

Members of the Soap Lake School District Levy Committee are holding several informational presentations in the next few weeks, starting with the Soap Lake Senior Center Fundraiser Dinner on Wednesday, which starts at 6 p.m. at the Soap Lake Senior Center.

This will be followed by a 6 p.m. presentation on Thursday at the Soap Lake Library, then a 6 p.m., presentation at the Soap Lake Middle/High School Library on Feb. 1.

McDonald said the presentations are a way to distribute information to the community and make him available to answer any questions.

"We're trying to keep as quiet a budget as possible for our levies," he said. "We feel that when you do that it makes people understand you're not trying to gouge them."

For more information, call 509-246-1822 or visit www.slschools.org.