LYNDEN - Voters in the Lynden School District will be asked to approve a replacement four-year maintenance and operations levy in February.
If approved, the levy would bring in between $5.35 million and $5.65 million each year from 2013-2016. The levy, which helps fund day-to-day operations of the district, would replace the two-year maintenance and operations levy that expires at the end of 2012.
The decision to run a four-year levy instead of a two-year levy is so the district doesn't have to pay for another election in two years.
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.
If approved, the estimated property tax rates range from $2.98 per $1,000 of a home's assessed value in 2013, to $3.01 per $1,000 in 2016. That means a person with a home assessed at $250,000 would pay $745 in school property taxes in 2013 and $752 in 2016.
The new levy tax rate is expected to be about 46 cents more per $1,000 than the projected tax rate for 2012. That means a person with a home assessed at $250,000 would pay about $115 more in school property taxes in 2013 than 2012.
Unlike other districts in the county, Lynden residents don't have any school bond payments in their property taxes; the last bond was paid off in 2010. Because there is no bond payment, the overall projected rates for school taxes would be higher than what property owners have paid since 2008 but lower than what they paid the preceding six years.
The current levy, which voters approved in 2010, allows the district to collect $4.5 million in 2012. That equals about 18 percent of the district's operating budget.
The levy amount approved by the board is higher this time around due to expectations that state funding cuts will continue, including a possible loss in levy equalization funding, which is money that helps property-poor districts keep property taxes from being too high for residents. The Lynden School District received about $443,000 in levy equalization funding in 2011, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Ballots will be mailed to voters in late January for the Feb. 14 election. 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 yet.
For more information about the levy, visit lynden.wednet.edu.
