In brief: Property owners will pay $11.3 million less to schools

Property owners will pay less in taxes to Spokane Public Schools in 2010 than voters approved in March – $11.3 million less.

The district estimated $3.56 per $1,000 assessed value. The rate will be $3.01, said Mark Anderson, assistant superintendent of school support services.

Why?

When the three-year levy was put on the ballot, school officials were unsure whether the Legislature would eliminate levy equalization – supplemental money from the state given to property-assessed poor school districts, Anderson said. “We assumed that would a 75 percent cut, but the state came through,” he said.

So instead of the original $61 million, the amount from property owners will be $49.6 million in taxes.

But if the Legislature cuts it during the upcoming session, next year may be a different story, Anderson said. The tax per $1,000 assessed value could go back up.

‘Very drunk’ driver, 19, calls 911 for ride from police

AUBURN, Wash. – The Washington State Patrol says a 19-year-old Auburn woman called 911 to report that she pulled over to the side of a highway because she was “very drunk” and needed a lift from police.

Trooper Dan McDonald said she told the dispatcher she’d been given alcohol at a party without her knowledge and her friends told her she could call 911 to have police pick her up and take her to a hospital to detox.

McDonald said the trooper who responded took the woman to Auburn Regional Medical Center for detox treatment early Monday morning. He also arrested her for physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated.