District Hopes Time Is Right For Levy Bonner County Levy Package Could Be A Hard Sell On Monday

The Bonner County School District hopes its $3 million levy package will hit a window of opportunity next week.

Residents will vote on the plan to repair schools and build a new elementary on Monday, just days before school is out and weeks before residents pay the first half of their property taxes.

“We have some definite needs and the levies are essential,” said school Superintendent Leonard Parenteau, admitting the levy will be a hard sell.

Residents approved a $1.5 million levy last year. It passed by only 67 votes.

“We are asking the voters to give us a little more money to keep the district moving forward,” Parenteau said. “There is a large volume of needs and we are asking for the bare minimums.”

Residents actually will decide on two supplemental levies. The first $1.5 million is earmarked to build Kootenai Elementary School, a 13-room schoolhouse that will hold about 325 students.

The second $1.5 million would go toward repairing dilapidated roofs, buying new buses and textbooks and updating fire and safety items at schools.

The two levies need a simple majority to pass, and polls are open from noon to 8 p.m. The total package would cost a homeowner about $154.32 a year on a home with a $100,000 taxable value.

A handful of residents have openly opposed the district’s levy proposal. They say too much money is spent on administration and extra curricular programs, the district let its buildings fall apart, and that voters already passed a levy years ago to build Kootenai School.

“This is too much to ask from property owners,” said Cocolalla resident Robert McFarland. “The district has repeatedly hit the taxpayers for money with no results. They will hit us again next year with an emergency levy that we can’t even vote on.”

McFarland wonders why district administrators are going to rent new offices for $4,000 a month when some schools have leaky roofs.

“Who the hell’s fault is it that maintenance hasn’t been done on buildings around here,” he said. “It’s time the district gets its priorities straight and lives within a budget like the rest of us.”

District business manager Steve Battenschlag said moving the district offices into the new City Hall this summer will save money in the short term. District offices and personnel can be consolidated, he said.

District officials also know Kootenai School is sour grapes for many residents. In 1987, voters set aside $1.5 million to build it along with five other schools. Kootenai was the last project on the list and inflation cut the school down to four rooms instead of eight.

More money is now needed to build the school right, and large enough to ease crowding at other elementaries, Parenteau said.

If the district needs money so badly it should cut some extra-curricular programs or have parents and students pay to play sports, McFarland argued.

“The high taxes are hurting a lot of people here. There is a growing voters’ revolt out there.”

, DataTimes