Voters to weigh Wahluke capital levy

MATTAWA — Wahluke School District voters will decide the fate of a three-year capital projects levy request in a special election Feb. 11. If the levy is approved, it would raise $2.58 million over the three years. The levy will allow the district to be more proactive, says Superintendent Andy Harlow.

“I feel like we’re always in the tyranny of the urgent. We’re always putting out fires,” he said.

District staff and students will be canvassing neighborhoods in Desert Aire from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday to remind residents to vote. The proposal requires a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to pass.

If the levy is approved, property owners would pay an estimated 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The owner of property valued at $250,000 would pay $187.50 per year in property taxes over the three years. People with property valued at $350,000 would pay $262.50 each year.

Harlow said most of the money would be used to pay back a loan on a project already completed, replacement of the heating-cooling system at Mattawa Elementary. Harlow estimated the loan payments would cost about $2.2 million. The rest of the money raised through the levy would go to upgrades for fire and security alarms in the district’s four oldest buildings. Each building is decades old and the rewiring will cost about $200,000 per building and the projects are essential for student and staff safety.

Harlow said the levy is a response to the district’s attempts to catch up to deferred maintenance, some of which had been delayed long enough that they couldn’t be put off any longer. District officials and a citizens committee are working on a longer-term plan for a maintenance schedule, he said, but there are projects that need attention now.

Harlow was named interim superintendent in July 2020 and hired for the permanent job in February 2021. He said there were some maintenance problems that required repairs as soon as possible, the heating-cooling system at Mattawa Elementary being one of them. Another was the MES roof.

“Every time it rained, - literally, every time it rained – you’d go in and you would see stuff happening,” Harlow said. “(In the) computer lab, we actually lost computers because of the water damage.”

The roof was replaced with federal funds the district received to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally district officials planned to use some of the federal money to upgrade the HVAC, but there were other projects that couldn’t be deferred, he said.

That meant the heating-cooling system at Mattawa Elementary still needed replacement, he said, and eventually that project couldn’t be delayed any longer.

“We went out and got a loan to pay for it so we could get that work done because it was almost 10 years past due,” he said.

Harlow also said the levy will save the district money in the long run by allowing the loan taken out to replace the HVAC system to be repaid more quickly. Further, the district has a limited debt capacity. With the current use of loans to fund emergency repairs, it is at its debt capacity leaving little to no room for emergencies that may arise.

“We not only just keep kicking the can down the road; we literally don’t have any more debt capacity when we took out this loan last year if anything would happen,” Harlow said.

The fire alarm and security alarm systems at the district’s three elementary schools and Wahluke Junior High are in need of upgrades, Harlow said, which would be paid for with the rest of the levy money. Some of the electrical components date back to the original construction in 1986, he said. Two of the buildings are about 50 years old, another 40 and the most recently built one that needs the work is about three decades old.

Wahluke voters rejected a capital levy request in 2024, and district officials revised it as a result. The proposal was reduced from four to three years, the levy amount was reduced and the tax rate dropped. The 2024 levy included repairs to the Wahluke High School track and lights at the WHS soccer field, but those were eliminated in the current request.

The longer-term facilities plan currently in preparation will include a schedule of necessary maintenance as well as estimated costs. The citizens committee and district officials will be working with Education Service District 105 in Yakima and NAC Architects, Spokane. Wahluke district patrons will get a look at the plan as it develops, Harlow said.

Ballots must be postmarked on or before Feb. 11. Ballots also can be left in the drop box administered by Grant County, located at 210 Government Road, the Mattawa Community Health Clinic parking lot.

Harlow said the goal is to have a facilities and maintenance plan that is proactive and responsibly manages taxpayer dollars.

“We can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” he said. “At some point, who’s going to make an investment in Wahluke?”

    Wahluke Junior High students work on projects at the science fair earlier this month. Upgrades to the WJHS fire and security alarms are included in a levy request on the ballot in February.