Tri-Cities area voters rejected tax increases now, but schools shouldn’t give up | Editorial
Voters in three Mid-Columbia communities sent a clear message to their elected leaders: No more taxes right now.
Now those communities must figure out how to move forward and whether voters might consider pared-back tax measures in the future.
The failure of levies in the Finley and Kiona-Benton City school districts were especially dispiriting.
Finley had two measures on the ballot. One was a $4.8 million operational levy for school safety, instructional materials, athletics and more. The other was a capital levy to raise funds for desperately needed improvements.
Kiona-Benton City’s levy would have replaced an expiring two-year operational levy at the same rate they currently pay.
All three levies failed by fewer than 100 votes, but with only 825 ballots cast in Finley and 1,418 in Kiona-Benton City, just a few dozen votes wind up being a significant margin.
The districts must balance their budgets, so they will have to resort to what Finley Superintendent Bryan Long called “bare-bones education.” As it stands now, his district will need to cut $2 million from next year’s budget, and Kiona-Benton just lost about 8% of its revenue.
Levies pay for a wide array of school programs and services. Cuts could come for sports, counselors, technology, extracurriculars, transportation, noncertified staff like custodians and paraeducators, and more.
Compared with the harm to children, Richland’s failed sales tax for a performing arts center is less heartbreaking, though still disappointing.
Despite the city’s discussing building a regional arts hub for more than a decade, 69% of voters were not interested. Technically, the community loses nothing as a result, but in reality this leaves arts groups in a lurch and is a failed opportunity to bolster quality of life.
Timing likely played a role in the failure of all of these measures. Property tax bills hit mailboxes right before the election. Sticker shock from new assessments could have left many voters predisposed against any tax increase.
Economic uncertainty also had to have weighed on voters’ minds. The inflation rate remains stubbornly high. At the same time federal spending, workforce reductions and tariffs complicate the local economic picture given the outsized importance of the Hanford site. Indeed, worries about jobs proved prescient when federal layoffs struck the Tri-Cities last week.
Tax fatigue is real, too. State revenue is forecast to be millions of dollars short of what is needed to maintain current service levels, let alone pay for any new expenses. That has Democrats in Olympia talking about tax increases, and voters might have been hesitant to compound them with local tax increases.
Even absent all of that, the measures faced electoral headwinds. February elections are low-turnout affairs, and opposition to taxes tends to engender more action than a vague sense that schools are important. A primary or general election with more races on the ballot is a better time to ask for money.
Finley and Ki-Be schools now must balance their budgets, but should not give up on voters.
The public will quickly see the real effects of cuts. If school officials come back with smaller, better-targeted levies during an election that does not fall right after property tax bills arrive, they could find better success.
It has worked before. Kiona-Benton City voters rejected two levies in 2020 before passing a smaller one in 2021. This month, voters in Moses Lake School District passed a $51 million levy after voting it down twice last year.
The districts also should look at bolstering volunteerism and grassroots fundraising through bake sales and the like. These could have a secondary benefit. When schools have to go down that route, it is not long before the effort wears everyone out and reinforces that a levy really is preferable.
Property taxes are more than a line item on an annual bill from the county. They are the lifeblood that keeps local services running.
In the case of schools, they fill the gap between what the state and federal governments provide and what the schools actually need. Despite legislative efforts in recent years, state funding for schools remains broken, and small, rural schools are hit the hardest.
Wealthier urban districts can raise local taxes to pay for better facilities and smaller class sizes more easily than places like Finley and Ki-Be.
That does not mean that residents in rural districts are any less passionate about kids receiving a good education. Rather, they demand that elected officials present a levy amount that covers what students need within the constraints of what taxpayers are willing to pay.