WHIDBEY NEWS-TIMES: School levies, bonds across Whidbey set for Feb. 8 ballot
Oak Harbor School board member Erik Mann, Oak Harbor Superintendent Karst Brandsma, Coupeville Superintendent Steve King, and South Whidbey Superintendent Jo Moccia
Karina Andrew reports that the League of Women Voters of Whidbey Island hosted a forum consisting of Oak Harbor Schools Superintendent Karst Brandsma and Board member Erik Mann, Coupeville Superintendent Steve King, and South Whidbey Superintendent Jo Moccia so they could attempt to clear up “misconceptions” concerning various school bonds and levies on the February ballot.
“School bonds and levies on the February ballot will fund nurses, sports and capital projects with minimal, if any, additional cost to taxpayers, Whidbey superintendents said last week.”
They said it
Oak Harbor Schools: Asking for a $184 million bond to rebuild four elementary schools and a school transportation center
Oak Harbor board member Erik Mann said studies conducted by the district in recent years “have all shown that it is actually going to be cheaper in the long run to replace the building and operate new, efficient, modern buildings rather than bring everything up to current codes.”
Oak Harbor Superintendent Karst Brandsma said the district is “conservatively estimating” the tax rate for the bond to come in at $1.89 per $1,000 assessed value, slightly under the $1.92 and $1.91 rates seen in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Superintendent Brandsma: “There is a common misconception among voters that if they approve a bond, that money will be used to fund salaries or increase the number of teachers or administrators and that’s legally just not the case. It can only be used for what the voters intend it for. In the case of a bond, it can only be used for capital construction.
He also assured listeners that because the levy would be approved at a fixed amount, taxpayers will not end up paying more as their property value increases. Rather, as the assessed value goes up, the tax rate will decrease.
Coupeville Schools: Asking for three levies: a $10.6 million educational programs and operations levy, a $1.95 million technology levy and a $6 million capital projects levy
Superintendent Steve King: The first is a four-year replacement levy meant to “pick up where it left off.”
Superintendent King said the capitol projects levy is meant to act as a bridge between the district’s bonds which end this year and the new bond measure district officials plan to implement in two years, during which time the levy would fund maintenance and upgrades.
Superintendent King said though the rate collected in 2023 would increase from the previous year if all three levies pass, the average tax rates over the life of the levies will still decrease in Coupeville.
Superintendent King encouraged voters in all districts to support the levies, which fund activities that kids have been missing during the past two years because of the pandemic.
“Kids need this now more than ever. Our kids have given up so much over the last couple years and lost so much, and we really found out how important schools are to our children and to our communities.”
South Whidbey Schools: Asking for a replacement levy that decreases the tax rate from 95 cents per $1,000 assessed value to around 50 cents per $1,000 assessed value.
Superintendent Jo Moccia said the district was able to decrease its levy so significantly because of how much property values on the South End have risen recently, though the new levy would still bring in $400,000 to $600,000 less in total per year to the district.
