Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I want to preface this letter by saying that I don’t hate children and I love living in Waitsburg. So I am hoping that this letter will be taken in the spirit of “we need a break from taxes/levies” that it is intended.

When I married and moved to Waitsburg in 1988, I fell in love with the small town. Not long after I moved here they tried running a levy to build a new grade school. The first time it failed, so they ran it again and put restoration of Preston Hall and restoration of the grade school on the same ballot. My husband and I both voted for it. The understanding was that they would restore/renovate the grade school. Well they tore down every wall but one very short one along Coppei, so they could say they restored it, although they did leave the multipurpose room where the kitchen is located. Not too long after that project was completed, they ran a levy to refurbish the high school and they said at the time that they would be rolling those bonds in with the grade school and extend the 20 year bonds for a little longer. My dates may be a little off as I am going on memory alone. (I couldn’t believe that they didn’t include air conditioning in those two bond levies!)

Between the renovating of all three schools and the biannual Maintenance and Operation Levies and the Columbia County Hospital District Levy, I believe that we need a break. I think that it is asking a great deal of the Citizens of Waitsburg to carry the burden of continuing more Capital Improvement Bonds at this time. At least give us a 10 year break on the Capital Improvement Bonds. We are close the highest taxed district per capita, if not the highest. We were actually looking forward to our taxes going down.

I am not a math major, but the M&O Levy of $3.55 per 1,000 for a $200,000 home would be (for 2 years) $710.00 a year + $426.00 (for 20 years) on the Capital Improvement Bonds, and that doesn’t count the property taxes or the Columbia County Hospital District Levy.

The high taxes are a deterrent for prospective home buyers and sellers.

Ann McCambridge

Waitsburg