Capital levy goes before Wahluke voters

MATTAWA — Wahluke School District voters will decide the fate of a four-year capital levy request in a special election Feb. 13. Ballots for the election were mailed late last week.

If the levy is passed, property owners would pay 99 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. A property owner with land assessed at $250,000 would pay $247.50 in taxes. The owner of a property valued at $300,000 would pay $297 per year. 

If it’s approved, the levy would generate about $953,600 in the first year, about $972,700 in the second year, about $992,200 in the third year and about $1 million in the fourth year.

The levy requires a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to pass, according to the Grant County Auditor’s Office. 

Wahluke Superintendent Andy Harlow said it’s the same proposal that was on the November 2023 ballot, which was narrowly defeated. 

“Everything is exactly the same,” Harlow said. 

If the levy is approved, the money would be used to pay for upgrades to the heating-cooling system at Mattawa Elementary, as well as repairs to the heating-cooling system in the Wahluke High School gym.

Harlow said he talked to people who voted no, and they told him they understood the rationale for the infrastructure changes. They were more skeptical of the other projects in the proposal, which include replacing the WHS track and resurfacing the district tennis courts. The final project would be the addition of lights at the WHS soccer field. 

The bulk of the money, about $2.1 million, would go to the heating-cooling system upgrades. Replacing the existing track would cost an estimated $350,000. 

Harlow said he understood the objections.

“We tried to pick projects that we needed, like the HVAC or the track, but also do things that were visual, (that) people could see. A lot of times people vote for these things and they never get to see where their money goes. We really wanted to make sure that if people were voting for something, they got the benefit,” Harlow said.

The tennis courts and track are and would continue to be available for public use, he said, and lights at the soccer field would extend the time it could be used, both by WSD students and district residents.

District officials and Wahluke School Board members did a thorough review of the district’s budget and finances in the 2022-23 school year, and determined that the district had more staff than it had the ability to pay for. That resulted in the elimination of 27 positions, through attrition and retirement.

“We have made necessary cuts to get us in a good financial position over this year and last year,” Harlow said. “We’re going to be good financially. Now we’re starting to invest in the future. We want to stop having to take loans out for (capital projects) because that’s what we’ve done over the last 10 years. So we’re trying to be more forward thinking and planning.”

The goal, he said, is to start working on a guideline for the district’s future capital needs.

“Our ultimate goal out of this is to come up with a 10-year plan of what we’re going to do for all of our facilities so that people can know what to expect from us over the next 10 years,” Harlow said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.