School, EMS Levies Deserve Support

It's a fact of life that many of the services we often take for granted in our communities actually involve choices. There's no rule that says school staffs can't be cut further, or that emergency service providers can't get by with less modern equipment. We get to choose whether or not those things happen.

Waitsburg area residents will face two of these choices on the ballot that is due back February 11.

One involves the Waitsburg School District. The district is asking voters to approve a $1.08 million maintenance and operations replace­ment levy for 2015 and 2016. This is a pretty stiff increase over the current levy amount of $882,000 that was passed in 2012 to cover last year and this year.

In an interview earlier this month, School Superintendent Dr. Carol Clarke told the Times that the increase is needed primarily for tech­nology upgrades. Nearly half of the district's computers need to be replaced, since their soft­ware can no longer be upgraded. The district also needs to replace its outdated analog phone system.

Besides technology upgrades, levy passage will allow the district to maintain its budget and staffing at roughly the same levels they have been for the past two years.

Our local schools are among our most criti­cal institutions. Most of our kids will go on to college or some other post-high school train­ing. For them to be successful there, we must provide the best possible education while they are in school here.

We urge voters in the Waitsburg School Dis­trict to vote yes on the upcoming M&O Levy measure.

Voters throughout Walla Walla County are being asked to support a six-year replacement levy to help fund local emergency services. Reporter Dena Wood's front page article this week describes the importance of maintaining the funding for these services.

Voters in the county have approved EMS levies measures every six years since 1990. The levy request this time remains unchanged from last time: fifty cents per thousand dollar property valuation.

According to Walla Walla County Emer­gency Management Services Director Patricia Courson, costs for equipment for local fire and ambulance services are significantly higher than they were 24 years ago. But local agencies are doing their best to get the most out of the fixed budgets they are faced with.

Again, we urge Walla Walla County voters to say yes to the EMS levy. Providing finan­cial support for emergency services may be a choice, but to us, the choice is easy - we need to maintain the level of emergency services at least at their current levels.