Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Colfax school board Tuesday night approved a resolution to place a two-year levy proposal before district voters on the Feb. 14 ballot.
The district will ask voters to approve a $1.2 million maintenance and operations levy for 2013 and another $1.25 million for 2014.
The proposal compares to the previous two-year levy of $950,000 and $970,000 which was approved by voters in a second round levy election in April of 2010.
The 2011-12 levy was approved after voters rejected a $1.3 million proposal in February of 2010. It was the first “no” vote on a Colfax school special levy in 40 years.
The levy proposal for 2013-14 was recommended to the board by levy committee chairman Bob Lothspeich. He pointed out the funding bind the school district has faced in the wake of state cutbacks.
“The state has dropped the ball and we didn’t pick it up like other districts, counties have,” said Lothspeich. “The net increase in this levy is really a minimal amount. I don’t think the general public knows how much this district has cut back.”
Lothspeich said that the district now runs very efficient departments and yet has a fairly high student to teacher ratio.
Again this year, the board finds itself in the position of approving a levy proposal before it knows what numbers will come out of the legislative session in Olympia.
Lothspeich pointed out the committee’s recommendation is based on an 18-year average of the school levy rate of 3.65 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. He said that tightening of the school budget led to elimination of three teachers, and the district’s operating fund now has one month leeway between revenue and spending.
Lothspeich said if district revenues remained at its current rate more staff cutbacks would be inevitable.
He departed the Tuesday board session after making his recommendation to the board. The directors briefly discussed the recommendation and then voted unanimously to put it before the voters.
Two years ago in the second levy vote, district voters gave a 58 percent approval. The district’s proposal had been reduced after school directors learned state funding from Olympia would not be cut.
The first proposal for $1.3 million two years ago received a 43 percent yes vote, short of the 50 percent majority now required for approval.
Projections on the district’s levy tax hike in the 2013 calendar year estimate the levy increase would add 68 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for the first year sum of $1.2 million. Those projections are based on an estimated one percent gain in the valuation of the school district’s property valuation.
At present, the assessed value of the Colfax school district is $325,888,995. .
"We’ve been trying to be extremely conservative," said school superintendent Michael Morgan. "We’ve just reached the point where we’re hurting the kids. (The levy rate) has been decreased over time when it really should have been maintained over time."
The board discussed it briefly before giving its unanimous approval.
Boardmember Brian Becker noted Colfax’s statistics of cutting and keeping its costs low district-wide.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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