PORT TOWNSEND — After more than a year of discussion, the Port Townsend School Board has set a May 20 election for a $33.84 million construction bond proposal to finance construction of a new Grant Street Elementary School.
The board voted 3-1 Monday to proceed with the election, with new school board Chairwoman Beth Young and board members John Eissinger and Rita Beebe favoring the proposal.
Board member Anne Burkart voted against it.
“I am 100 percent committed to trying to get this bond issue passed,” she said Wednesday.
“I voted against it because I thought another alternative was going to be offered.”
With interest, the bond proposal would cost taxpayers about $52 million.
As proposed, the tax rate would increase to $1.26 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The owner of a home valued at $400,000 would pay $316 more per year. That’s in addition to the existing school bond rate of 94 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Burkart said she supported a much smaller $4.5 million bond proposal to take care of some immediate school maintenance needs and some infrastructure, along with a site plan and architectural planning for the proposed Grant Street Elementary School.
Then the school board could come back next year with the full proposal, a move she supports.
“The economic situation is kind of up in the air right now with the ferries and other issues,” she said, referring to the loss of the 64-car Steel Electric ferries on the Port Townsend-Keystone route.
