Most School Districts Holding The Line On Proposed Tax Rates
Most North Side voters going to the polls Feb. 6 can be assured of one thing: Their school tax rates won’t go up.
If proposed two-year maintenance and operations levies are approved, school taxes in Mead and Spokane school districts would decrease in 1998. Riverside and Deer Park are asking for no rate hikes. Only Nine Mile Falls is requesting an increase.
The levies on the Feb. 6 ballot help the districts pay for day-to-day operations. Proposed levy rates are based on estimated property values. If property values go up, rates would go down, or vice versa.
To pass, the levies must meet two requirements:
At least 40 percent of those who voted last November must come to the polls.
At least 60 percent of those who cast ballots must vote yes.
Here is a quick look at the requests from the five school districts serving the North Side:
District 81 is proposing a $63.8 million two-year levy. The tax rates would be $3.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value in 1997, and $3.56 in 1998. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $399 the first year, $356 the second. The reduction in local tax funds in 1998 will cost the school district at least $6 million, administrators predict.
After a decade of large margins of victory, the 1994 levy passed by 324 votes.
Mead is proposing a $15.63 million two-year levy. The tax rates would be $4.21 per $1,000 of assessed valuate in 1997, and $3.43 in 1998. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $421 the first year and $343 the second.
The reduction in levy funds will cause headaches for Mead administrators planning to open a new high school in 1997. To offset the losses, they say they will tighten administrative costs.
Riverside is proposing a $2.08 million two-year levy. The tax rates would be $3.89 per $1,000 of assessed value in both 1997 and 1998. The owner of a $100,000 house would pay $389 both years.
Though facing a loss in special education and school bus funds, a committee of local voters decided not to request an increase over the 1996 tax rates. If approved, the levy would pay for new school buses, among other things.
Nine Mile Falls is proposing a $2.03 million two-year levy. The tax rates would be $3.90 per $1,000 of assessed value in both 1997 and in 1998. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $390 both years.
That an increase of about 22 cents per $1,000 over the existing levy. The increase is being requested to pay for an anticipated boom in students, according to Superintendent Don Baumberger. To prepare for the growth, the district is considering several options, including portable classrooms.
Deer Park is proposing a $1.85 million two-year levy. Because of growth, the tax rate would drop by about 20 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to $3.60 in 1997 and $3.56 in 1998. The owner of a $100,000 house would pay $360 the first year and $356 the second. The rate was set by a committee of Deer Park residents and parents upset enough with rising property taxes that they decided to not increase the amount of the levy, even to keep up with inflation.
, DataTimes