Ballots are mailed. 3 Tri-Cities school districts re-trying levies for sports, music and more
Ballots should be arriving in mailboxes this week for the upcoming April 26 special election, and three Benton County school districts are seeking to renew local funding that expires this year.
Kennewick, Prosser and Finley school districts are asking voters to approve revised levies to pay for education programs and operations after similar measures failed to get a majority of support in February.
A second failure for any of the school districts will ultimately mean cuts to programs and positions starting next school year. By law, school districts can only run operations levies twice in one year.
None of the measures are new taxes.
It’s usually been smooth sailing for school districts when it comes to passing these property tax measures, but a mix of frustration surrounding state COVID mandates in schools, along with the amount being asked for, ultimately resulted in their failures.
Having taken voter feedback into consideration, school leaders are hopeful for a different result this month.
“Those mandates have been lifted, the levy amounts have been reduced, and the length of the levy has been shortened by two years,” Kennewick Superintendent Traci Pierce said in an emailed statement.
Levy dollars help bridge the gap between what’s paid for by Washington state and what a school district needs in order to operate successfully, say officials. The measures are different from bond initiatives, which pay for school construction or renovations.
Ballots must be postmarked by the end of the business day on April 26 or returned to a county-certified drop box by 8 p.m.
Kennewick schools
This time around Kennewick is asking for voters to pass a reduced two-year levy that would collect $1.75 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2023 and $1.85 per $1,000 in 2024.
Property owners in the district are currently taxed $1.65 per $1,000.
This new measure would collect $20.62 million next year, then $23.37 million the next year.
For a home valued at $350,000, the homeowner would pay $612 the first year and about $645 the second. That same home this year paid about $577.
Paired with an additional $14 million the district will receive through state equalization dollars to help balance its property poor neighborhoods, levy funding makes up about 11% of Kennewick’s operating budget. The district serves more than 18,700 students.
“The support from the community helps to provide for safety and security, instructional support and staffing, facility and maintenance staffing, and athletics and activities programs for students,” Pierce said.
A double levy failure would be a first for Kennewick, said district spokesperson Robyn Chastain.
Levy funds annually provide:
- $14.9 million for student learning and staffing, including libraries, dual language programs, substitute teachers, advance placement and special education support.
- $6.4 million for instructional support staffing, including paraeducators and curriculum staff.
- $4.6 million for health and safety, including for school resource officers, nurses, security personnel, counselors, and drug and alcohol prevention services.
- $3.1 million for operations and maintenance, including staffing for transportation and custodians.
- $2.7 million for athletics, including coaches, advisors and equipment.
The levy also helps to fund the city’s largest employer, which is the school district with more than 3,000 employees.
Compared with what neighboring school districts will levy next year, Kennewick’s proposed rate is among the lowest.
Voters in Richland and Walla Walla, for example, recently approved a request starting next year to max out their levies at $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
To learn more about the measure, open house events for voters are planned at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, and Thursday, April 14.
Prosser schools
Prosser voters will be asked to extend their current operations levy rate of $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed value for another two years.
It’s the same rate that was put to voters on the February ballot and voted down with 54% disapproval, just with one less year, and the same rate property owners are currently paying.
If passed, the tax will collect $3.78 million in 2023 and $3.89 million in 2024. The district also receives $1.5 million annually in state equalization funding.
For a home valued at $350,000, the estimated tax bill would be about $745.
If it doesn’t pass, the district’s budget will take a $10.7 million hit over the next two years.
Local funding makes up about 9% of the school district’s annual budget, and helps fund positions including nurses, coaches, counselors, teachers and security officers. Levy funds annually provide:
- $809,000 for athletics and extracurricular activities.
- $664,000 for counseling, nursing and libraries.
- $604,000 for maintenance, groundskeeping and custodial work.
- $404,347 for teachers and instructional support.
- $383,000 for substitute teachers.
- $293,000 for school utilities and insurance.
- $250,000 for security.
Superintendent Matthew Ellis previously told the Herald that they plan on doing a “deeper dive” within the next two years to engage voters on how they believe those funds should be spent and what they’d like the district to look like.
Finley schools
Finley failed to pass its levy by a 12-vote margin in February. Now, they’re trying again with a reduced two-year levy measure that would collect 9 cents less annually than what was previously proposed.
Voters will be asked to pass a replacement measure that will tax $2.33 per every $1,000 of assessed value in 2023, then $2.37 per $1,000 in 2024.
The district would collect $1.48 million in 2023 and $1.54 million the next year.
The district also receives about $1.7 million annually from the state in levy equalization funding.
Finley property owners are currently taxed a school levy rate of $1.88 per $1,000 of assessed value, and bills about $658 on a home valued at $350,000. That bill would be about $815, starting next year.
Levy funds annually provide:
- $915,609 for staffing and student support. That includes nurses, counselors, secretaries and staff training.
- $336,769 for maintenance and operations, including funding for custodians, groundskeepers and utilities.
- $317,315 for athletics and extracurriculars. Coaches, travel expenses, equipment, advisors and other extracurricular activities are included under there.
- $127,284 for technology needs.
- $12,415 for instructional supplies and curriculum.
If the levy fails, the district says it will have to cut more than $1.7 million of those staff and programs from next school year’s budget.
The district will host an open house to answer voters questions 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12. The meeting will be held via Zoom.
Election deadlines
Washington state residents can register to vote in person at their local auditor’s office, up until 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Voters can register online and by mail as long as it’s received by April 18.
Some seniors and residents on fixed incomes may be eligible for property tax exemption through the Benton County Assessor’s Office.
As of April 1, the Benton County Voting Center has moved. It’s located near the old center at 2618 N. Columbia Center Blvd. in Richland.
