Five Levies Confront Stevens County Voters Two-Year School Levies Proposed In Deer Park, Nine Mile Falls

Voters in Stevens, Lincoln and Pend Oreille counties will be asked Tuesday to approve special levies and bonds for schools, parks, roads and a hospital.

Stevens County voters - and some in Spokane County - must decide on five operating levies proposed by school districts that serve Stevens County or both of the counties. Districts that include portions of both counties are Nine Mile Falls and Deer Park.

The Nine Mile Falls School District, which also serves the Suncrest area, proposes a two-year levy that would collect $1.12 million in 1999 and $1.175 million in 2000. The estimated cost would be $3.64 per $1,000 of assessed property value in both years.

Deer Park proposes a two-year levy that would collect $1.042 million each year. The rate would be $3.56 per $1,000 assessed value in 1999 and $3.46 in 2000.

The Columbia School District, based in Hunters, seeks a two-year levy that would collect $70,000 this year and next at a rate of $1.524 per $1,000 valuation both years.

In Springdale, the Mary Walker School District wants a two-year $125,000-a-year levy that would cost $1.036 per $1,000 of assessed value this year and next.

Also in Stevens County, the Kettle Falls School District proposes a two-year $690,000 levy in 1999 and 2000 at a cost of $2.60 per $1,000 valuation each year.

The Reardan-Edwall School District, which is about evenly split between Lincoln and Spokane counties, is seeking a two-year operating levy. The measure would collect $695,000 in 1999 at an estimated property tax rate of $3.66 per $1,000 of assessed value and $730,000 in 2000 at a rate of $3.84 per $1,000 valuation.

In Lincoln County’s only bond measure, the town of Creston proposes $65,000 in bonds for a maximum of 10 years. The money would be used for several capital improvements, including purchase of a new dump truck, a pickup truck and materials for road repairs.

Elsewhere in the county, the Odessa School District is proposing a one-year, $415,000 operating levy at an estimated rate of $3.58 per $1,000 of assessed value. The measure applies to voters in Adams and Grant counties as well.

Also in the Odessa area, Public Hospital District 1 wants a one-year, $365,000 operating levy that would cost $2.98 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Park and Recreation District No. 2, which serves the Almira-Grand Coulee area of Lincoln County, is seeking a one-year, $15,000 operating levy at an estimated rate of 39 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

The Wilbur School District proposes a two-year, $375,000-a-year operating levy that would cost 99 cents per $1,000.

The Selkirk School District has the only levy proposal in Pend Oreille County. Residents of the district - which serves Ione, Metaline and Metaline Falls at the north end of the county - will vote by mail. They are asked to pay $150,000 this year and next at a rate of $2.05 per $1,000.

, DataTimes