BLAINE - Blaine School District will ask voters to approve a replacement maintenance and operations levy in February, and might ask voters to approve a $3 million bond measure at the same time.
The school board approved putting the levy request on the ballot at a meeting Monday night, Oct. 24. The board will consider approving the bond request at a November meeting.
The other six school districts in Whatcom County also will be running replacement levies during the February election, although not all districts have set amounts or estimated tax rates.
The four-year levy Blaine would raise $6.1 million to $6.5 million a year from 2013 to 2016. When voters approve a levy, they are approving the maximum amount of money a district can collect in property taxes from residents - the tax rate may fluctuate, but the bottom-line amount the district receives can't be above the approved amounts.
The estimated tax rates range from $1.62 per $1,000 of a home's assessed value in 2013, to $1.68 per $1,000 in 2016. That means a person with a home assessed at $250,000 would pay about $405 for the levy in 2013.
By comparison, the projected levy tax rate for 2012 is $1.45, or $362.50 for a home assessed at $250,000. Residents also pay property taxes for a 2001 bond, which has cost between 88 and 94 cents per $1,000 of a home's assessed value the last two years.
The main reason for the increase in the tax rate is due to the state allowing school districts to collect more money from taxpayers, in an effort to offset some state budget cuts. For 2011, the district is authorized to collect about $5.1 million, according to the Whatcom County Assessor's Office tax book.
The current maintenance and operations levy accounts for about 25 percent of the district's budget, according to Superintendent Ron Spanjer.
The proposed bond measure would be used for several projects, including remodeling the high school science building, which currently only has about 40 percent of the lab space the school needs; moving the middle school and high school Life Skills programs out of converted locker rooms to their respective campuses; retrofitting lighting at the high school to meet federal requirements; upgrading heating at the middle and elementary schools; and expanding the security camera system at the elementary and primary school campuses.
This is the third time the district has tried to get a bond passed to make repairs across the district, but mostly at the high school. The last attempt was in April 2011, with a $32 million bond request. More than 59 percent of the voters supported it, but bonds need a supermajority, or at least 60 percent of the votes, to pass.
