PORT TOWNSEND — All four public school districts in East Jefferson County are placing levies on the Feb. 14 ballot to renovate facilities and support programs that are no longer funded by the state.
“Our boiler should be a museum,” Chimacum Assistant Superintendent Art Clarke told a gathering at a Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week.
“Our phone system is so old that when we need parts, we need to go onto eBay to find them,” he added.
Port Townsend, Quilcene and Brinnon schools also are seeking voter approval for levies.
Ballots are scheduled to be mailed out Friday.
Representatives of all four districts said approval of the ballot measures would not increase property taxes since they replace levies that expire this year.
Port Townsend and Chimacum are asking for new capital levies to replace facilities, while Brinnon and Quilcene seek maintenance and operations levies that support school programs.
School district borders do not overlap, so property owners are only subject to one levy.
The Chimacum proposal is a six-year plan that would raise $1,325,000 each year for a total of $7,950,000.
The estimated amount per $1,000 assessed value it would cost property owners is, in order from 2013 to 2018, 81 cents, 80 cents, 84 cents, 83 cents, 83 cents and 82 cents.
The Port Townsend measure would generate $1,181,500 each year for a total of $4,726,000 over four years.
The estimated amount per $1,000 assessed value it would cost property owners is 51 cents the first year and 58 cents each of the following years.
Quilcene seeks a four-year maintenance and operation levy that would collect $495,500 its first year, $510,365 the second year, $525,230 the third year and $540,095 the fourth year.
The estimated amount per $1,000 assessed value it would cost property owners is, in order from 2012-2013 through 2015-2016, $1.46 the first year, $1.51 the second year, $1.55 the third year and $1.60 the fourth year.
Brinnon seeks a two-year measure that would raise $239,653 the first year and $299,526 the second year.
The estimated amount per $1,000 assessed value it would cost property owners is $1.08 in 2013 and $1.10 in 2014.
“The big picture has to do with stewardship, which is defined as the preservation of community resources,” said Chimacum Schools Superintendent Craig Downs.
“Our schools are a valuable community resource, and in order to maintain them, we will need to make some repairs.”
Systems that need repair include roofs, siding and electrical, which the maintenance crew has kept operational “well beyond their years,” Downs said.
Downs said the district waited to run the levy until this year in order to coincide with the expiration of the last levy so homeowners would not see a property tax increase.
Downs was the chamber’s scheduled speaker, but Port Townsend Superintendent Gene Laes “invited myself” and also addressed the group.
“In 2006, the school district engaged a facilities survey and study and also engaged a long-range planning committee,” Laes said.
“The committee reported that three of the four facilities — at the time we had Mountain View — were outdated and need major repairs or upgrades.
“The heating and mechanical systems in all of the facilities aside from Blue Heron [Middle School], which was the newest, were rated as poor or unsatisfactory.”
Systems that needed repair or replacement then and as a result now include fire protection and sprinkler systems, piping and plumbing, carpets, doors and hardware.
The facilities did not meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, and were in need of seismic upgrades.
Laes said no action was taken on the report.
“This is the first stage of a long-range plan,” Laes said.
“Once we get the revenues from the levy, we are going to take care of the facilities we already have and determine what the configuration will be in the Port Townsend School District and then design a building to fit that configuration.”
Both Chimacum and Port Townsend are using outdated phone systems, officials said, adding that when calling 9-1-1 emergency services, information must be provided verbally that could be available electronically.
Consolidation of some aspects of repairs could cut some costs.
While the two districts cannot actually share a phone system, they can get a better price by issuing a joint bid, Clarke said.
The districts now share the Chimacum Bus Barn and have electronic routing and field trip systems that also are shared.
The districts also share food service and special-education services, according to Clarke.
“There are cooperations we are doing every day,” Clarke said.
“We are sharing information and services.”
Downs said all four districts have an ongoing dialog about mergers, a possibility in the future.
“The bottom line is that we all have facilities that need to be maintained,” he said.
“And you are not going to really save money unless you close schools.
“If you talk merger in this county, there will be communities that lose their schools.
“We feel that in Chimacum that even if there is a merger, these are facilities we are going to continue to use for 30 years.”
In Quilcene, the levy will be used for student health and safety services, special programs, technology, facility maintenance, textbooks and supplies, breakfast and lunch programs, bus transportation and extracurricular activities.
Brinnon hopes the levy will support the purchase of textbooks and materials, unfunded special-education requirements, building maintenance and repairs, breakfast and lunch programs, preschool, utility and other operating expenses and non-high payments to neighboring high schools
All four districts have posted levy information on their websites.
Information about Port Townsend is available at http://tinyurl.com/2c3yft5.
Chimacum’s site is www.csd49.org.
Quilcene has posted information at http://tinyurl.com/7a4srau
Brinnon has posted information at www.bsd46.org.
________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
