Voters To Determine Outcome Of Levies, Bond Issues Feb. 3

Voters will go to the polls next week to decide the fate of levies and bond issues in several South Spokane and West Plains school districts.

On Feb. 3, some voters must simply decide whether to continue with their current tax rates. Others are being asked to approve a slimmer version of a bond measure that has failed eight times in the last four years.

The mostly rural Liberty School District is asking for a $3.1 million bond that would add four classrooms and a music room at Liberty High School. The money would also pay to bring the district’s water treatment plant up to code.

This bond would mean a tax of about $110 for the owner of a $100,000 home.

A $6.3 million bond issue fell just short of approval last May.

Liberty voters will also be asked to replace the current maintenance and operations levy, which expires next year. The levy would cost $771,840 in 1999 and $793,560 in 2000, a 2.5 percent increase each year from the current levy.

The levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $383 in 1999 and $386 the following year.

The Cheney School District is asking voters to approve an maintenance and operations levy, as well as a capital levy, in its “Vote Yes Twice” campaign. The replacement maintenance and operations levy would raise about $3.8 million in 1999 and $4 million the following year, for a tax rate of $382 in 1999 and $379 in 2000 for the owner of a $100,000 home.

The district is also asking for a separate $2.1 million capital levy to fund structural improvements to Cheney Middle School and new instructional technology for all district schools. As part of the technology upgrades, the district would aim to meet a 5-to-1 ratio of students and computers.

This levy would mean a tax rate of about $101 in 1999 and $105 in 2000 for the owner of a $100,000 home.

The Medical Lake School District is looking to renew its current maintenance and operations levy, which would raise $354,221 in 1999 and $361,305 in 2000. It would cost about $175 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

The district isn’t placing a bond measure on the ballot.

, DataTimes