SEQUIM — The Sequim School Board hopes the fourth time will be the charm.
The board voted unanimously Monday to place a $54 million bond on the Feb. 9 special election ballot.
The bond would pay for a new elementary school, renovation of Sequim High School and other district improvements.
This will be the fourth attempt by the district to pass a construction bond, which requires 60 percent supermajority for passage.
A $49.3 million measure appearing on the Nov. 3 ballot failed by just 54 votes, or 0.45 percentage points short of a 60 percent supermajority.
A $49.2 million bond proposal on last February’s ballot received 6,691 yes votes to 5,026 no votes, or 57.11 percent to 42.89 percent.
Voters defeated a $154 million measure by a 56 percent-44 percent margin in April 2014.
The bond measure is needed because the condition of schools within the district “has just gotten worse each year” and needs to be addressed, Bev Horan, school board president, said before the vote.
The new measure will be substantially similar to the November proposal, officials said.
The $4.7 million increase is because interest rates are higher and construction is expected to be more costly because of a manpower shortage, Brian Lewis, Sequim School District director of business, said during the meeting attended by about 45 people.
If it passes, the measure would result in a tax levy of 61 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation on property owners, Lewis said.
For the owner of a $246,675 home, the median sale price of Sequim-area residences in 2015, that would mean the addition of about $138.14 in annual property taxes, he said.
If approved, the bond will be used to renovate and expand Greywolf Elementary, build a new school, renovate Helen Haller to house Olympic Peninsula Academy — for alternative education — renovate and expand Sequim High, demolish a Sequim Community School building and upgrade the district kitchen and maintenance facility.
The bond also will fund a new science wing of six laboratory classrooms at Sequim High and add band, orchestra and choir rooms to the performing arts wing.
Music students now must cross the street to attend classes in the former Sequim Community School, officials said.
The district also is pursuing $6 million in government grant funds, Lewis said.
That funding would be added to the $54 million bond, bringing the total amount of available funding for construction projects to $60 million, he said.
About $1.7 million is available through a K-3 Class Size Reduction Facilities Grant for the addition of seven permanent classrooms, Lewis said.
The application for that grant was completed Dec. 1, he said.
Another $4.3 million grant is available through the School Construction Assistance Program if the district demolishes the Sequim Community School building, Lewis said.
Before Monday’s vote, Mike Howe, board member, said he would have preferred more time to consider and add to the measure, even if that would have meant delaying its appearance until the April election.
The board was forced to act on the resolution Monday to meet the Friday deadline for getting the measure on the February ballot, Lewis said.
“I am not opposed to re-evaluating at all,” Howe said.
“I am not opposed to adding more, and I believe it would pass.”
Lewis responded by saying the “passage rate in April is substantially less than in February.”
That “really is the biggest consideration,” he said.
“We’d have to run a bond in April at the same time people are paying their property taxes and filing their income tax returns,” he said.
Said board member Heather Short: “I think it would confuse voters . . . to add things last-minute.”
Robin Henrikson, board vice president, said she supported the bond because it is substantially the same as the previous attempt in November.
“Approximately 60 percent of the voters did say yes to this package,” she said, “and I think it is our responsibility, as board members, to represent what our community wants.”
And while a larger bond would allow for additional projects, “we know that this is the package . . . our community supports for now, so that is why I think we should keep it as is and why I would support it.”
Supporting the resolution, board member Jim Stoffer said, “I think that our responsibility as board members is informing and promoting our needs to the community” to garner enough support for the measure to pass.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
