Ballots coming for levy proposals in local districts

EPHRATA — Ballots will be mailed to voters Jan. 24 for the Feb. 13 special election that features educational program and operations levy requests in a number of school districts.

Voters in the Almira, Wilson Creek, Soap Lake, Coulee-Hartline, Warden, Moses Lake and Royal school districts will decide the fate of Education Programs and Operations — or EP&O — levies. Warden voters also will consider a separate technology levy request. 

The proposals in Moses Lake and Coulee-Hartline will be detailed in later stories.

Because they are school levies, the proposals require a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to pass. In all districts, the 2024 proposals would replace existing levies. 

“The ‘basic education funding’ school districts receive from the state do not cover all the actual costs that are needed to operate a school district,” according to the Royal School District website. “Local levies help bridge that gap in funding.” 

Soap Lake district officials agreed with that assessment.

“Soap Lake, like most school districts in the state, needs additional funds locally to supplement the program funded by the state,” district officials wrote in a brochure announcing the proposal. 

Almira voters will consider a three-year request. The levy rate would be $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which is projected to generate about $205,000 each year. 

If the levy is approved, a landowner with property in the district valued at $250,000 would pay $600 per year in property taxes. A property owner with property valued at $300,000 would pay $720 per year.

In Almira the levy, if it’s approved, helps pay for some preschool and transportation expenses, as well as maintenance on district buildings, nutrition services and extracurricular activities, from school sports to field trips.

Warden district patrons will be voting on two separate proposals, a two-year EP&O levy and a capital levy for technology improvements. 

The levy proposal is for $2.20 per $1,000 of assessed property value in the first year, and $2.30 per $1,000 in the second year. If it’s approved it’s projected to generate $1.7 million in the first year and $1.87 million in the second year. 

The technology levy would be 20 cents per $1,000, and is projected to generate about $155,400 in the first year and about $163,170 in the second year. A landowner with property valued at $250,000 would pay $600 the first year, and $625 in the second year, if both levies were approved.

Warden too uses levy money to plug funding gaps, and the technology levy is used to provide a computer for every student and to upgrade the district’s technology systems, among other things.

Wilson Creek voters will be asked to approve or reject a two-year proposal for $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value each year. If it’s approved the levy is projected to generate about $350,100 in the first year and $365,000 in the second year. 

A landowner in the Wilson Creek district with property valued at $250,000 would pay $600 per year in property taxes.

The levy proposal in Soap Lake is for four years, with a rate of $2.29 per $1,000 each year. It’s projected to raise about $736,100 in the first year, about $776,150 in the second year, about $818,370 in the third year and about $862,900 in the fourth year. 

A landowner with property valued at $200,000 would pay $458 each year. 

Along with extracurricular activities, maintenance and technology, Soap Lake district officials would use levy money, if it’s approved, to help maintain smaller class sizes and support its vocational education program, among other things. 

Royal School District voters will decide the fate of a two-year levy proposal for $1.72 per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year and $1.67 in the second year. The levy would raise $1.825 million each year. 

A property owner with property valued at $300,000 would pay $516 in the first year and $501 in the second year. 

State law mandates that a district must maintain a levy rate of at least $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value to qualify for some additional funding. Royal’s levy rate has dropped below that in the past, so district officials are working to keep the assessment above $1.50 per $1,000, according to information on the district website.

Royal too uses levy money to support its vocational program and smaller class sizes, among other things. It also supports some positions, such as school counselors, that are not funded by the state at the levels preferred in the district.

Ballots must be postmarked by Feb. 13 if they are mailed; there are drop boxes in each community in Grant County. (While part of the district is in Grant County, the town of Almira is in Lincoln County.)

Soap Lake voters can leave their ballots in a drop box across the street from Soap Lake City Hall, 239 SE Second Ave. In Royal City, the box is located at 101 Camelia St., next door to the Confluence Health clinic, according to the Grant County Auditor.

The drop box in Warden is located at the Warden Senior Center, 115 N. Oak Ave. The Wilson Creek ballot box is at 124 Railroad St. 

    Voters in the Almira School District will decide the fate of the district’s levy proposal Feb 13. Almira School is pictured.
  

    Members of the Royal School District Power Rangers robotics team during a March 2023 match. The robotics teams are one of the extracurricular activities funded by the district’s levy.