Bond Levies, By the Numbers

I f you own property in the Dayton School District, the district is getting ready to hit you up for money for a major renovation project. During their meeting last week, the facilities committee made a preliminary decision to move ahead with a plan for a $24.2 million project with $19.5 million of that being financed through taxpayer supported bonds.

This is all described in our front page story this week, including the fact that voters will likely be asked to ap- prove the bond in a levy measure in April.

If you live in the Waitsburg school district, don't think you're off the hook. The Waitsburg SD is also just begin- ning to look at possible needs in the way of renovation.

Dayton last floated a major construction bond more than 30 years ago. It completed a major school renova- tion in 1984. And those bonds were paid off about ten years ago.

When The Times asked for information about what the renovation committee was considering, one of the most important bits we received was a comparison of tax levy rates, specifically for schools, paid by property owners in lots of school districts in Washington, including Dayton.

Since most districts are somewhere in the middle of paying off construction bonds, and Dayton's not, we would expect that Dayton's tax rates would be lower. But the difference is stark.

This list shows total assessed property valuation for each district and the total levy, in dollars per thousand dollars of property valuation, that goes toward schools in each district. Here's the list:

District Total Valuation School Levy Amt Dayton $569,651,515 $2.719 Starbuck $ 27,364,437 $3.592* Waitsburg $130,713,774 $5.718* Prescott $263,669,325 $3.592* Pomeroy $136,516,228 $3.828* Dixie $ 72,725,134 $3.167 Touchet $211,136,743 $4.688* Walla Walla $2,810,370,227 $4.897* College Place $877,351,981 $5.877* Columbia $556,718,993 $6.704* Toppenish $558,934,071 $3.053* Wapato $552,348,046 $3.477* Medical Lake $522,972,576 $5.433* La Conner $588,701,644 $5.691* Freeman $476,948,038 $5.893* Cashmere $694,133,011 $6.530* *Currently paying off a construction bond