FORKS — Ballots have been mailed to 3,005 Forks-area voters, asking them to approve Quillayute Valley School District’s maintenance and operations levy and bond issues.
Ballots must be postmarked or hand-delivered by Feb. 3. A drop box is available at the Forks District Court lobby, 502 E. Division St.
Two measures are on the ballot: Proposition 1, a proposed replacement levy that needs only a simple majority to pass, and Proposition 2, a proposed bond issue to replace portions of Forks High School, which needs a 60 percent supermajority to pass.
Levy proposal
The four-year levy currently in place brings in $570,000 to the district, and the board voted to collect no more than that for the next two years, Superintendent Diana Reaume said.
“The levy is a replacement levy, and we’re not asking for any more,” Reaume said.
“So passing this would mean no changes to the taxes because it is just replacing the other levy we have in place.”
The current rate is $1.43 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
Assessed values of property have gone up, so the rate would drop to about $1.16 per $1,000 assessed valuation, Reaume said.
That means the owner of a $200,000 home would still pay about $232 annually in property taxes.
“This levy is very important for our district,” Reaume said.
“In addition to the $570,000 we get from the levy, we expect to get about $600,000 in levy equalization funds — even with the budget cuts.”
She said that in addition to funding some staff positions to reduce staff size, it pays for some maintenance and remodeling that will be needed and for the unfunded mandates from the Legislature.
“We will, for example, need to do some work on the elementary school roof, and on the middle school, we need to get some heating in there,” Reaume said.
“We also just found out our football tower is condemned.
“It will have to be torn down this year.
“Those are just some of the things we need to do.”
Bond rate $1.18
The $11 million bond rate would be about $1.18 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
That means the owner of a $200,000 home would pay about $236 annually in property taxes.
The district felt it was too expensive — at about $30,000 for a special election — to run two separate elections for the issues, so they were combined, Reaume said.
The bond would replace old portions of the 1925 high school.
“Those parts of the high school have been taken offline and may never be used again,” Reaume said.
“We had a vote at the high school in a mock election, and of the 260 or so kids that voted, 249 said they thought we needed a new high school.
“After that, the students organized themselves to try and support the bond and to let people know we need it.”
Currently, the high school students attend classes in about a half-dozen buildings.
“It isn’t conducive to education,” Reaume said.
She added that the district has an opportunity to get state money.
The way state matching funds are calculated includes all students — such as virtual students.
The district hosts the statewide Insight School of Washington, a public high school, which nearly doubles its enrollment.
“The state is committed to funding based on the current law if the bond passes,” Reaume said.
“That means that with $7 million in state funding — instead of $1 million otherwise, and we feel confident the law will change in this session — the state would be funding 37 percent of the project.”
The election is the second for the bond, which failed to pass in the November general election.
In that attempt, voters were also asked to approve a measure for a new sports stadium, but the board elected not to request that again.
“We feel strongly that we need the new school for the welfare of our students, and we will continue trying for this,” Reaume said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
