SEQUIM — The Sequim School District will seek a new maintenance and operations levy to replace the one that expires next year, and officials plan to put the levy before voters Feb. 7.
The dollar amount the levy would raise and the associated property tax have not been determined. Those must be filed by Dec. 23 for a February election to take place.
Most school funding comes from state and federal sources, and school districts have the option of placing a local levy on property taxes to provide additional money.
Of the 296 districts in the state, only 18 did not put a levy on the ballot.
Sequim’s rate for 2005 is 97 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, which amounts to about $290 on a $300,000 home.
The levy will raise a little more than $2.5 million, or about 14 percent of district revenue.
School officials could choose not to have a local levy, but that would blow a sizable hole in the district’s budget, School Board members said Monday.
“The first question is whether we should have a levy, and I think we can resolve that,” board member Walter Johnson said.
Board President Dave Blake agreed.
“The financial situation in this state requires us to have a levy,” he said.
