Waitsburg School District Approves Levy

WAITSBURG – At their regular Dec. 13 meeting, the Waitsburg School Board approved a replacement two-year enrichment levy of $2.71 per $1,000 of assessed value for 2019 and 2020. How much will actually be collected, however, is yet to be determined.

Beginning in 2018, the state will begin collecting a state school levy of approximately $0.84 per $1,000 dollars of assessed value in Walla Walla County.

According to the McCleary decision, passed in 2012 to “fully fund” education, school enrichment levies (formerly called maintenance and operations levies) will be capped at $.150 /$1,000 or $2,500 per student. whichever is less, beginning in 2019.

Waitsburg’s current M&O levy, which will expire in 2018, is currently $3.55/$1,000.

The board considered levy amounts of $3.55/$1,00, $2.71/$1,000 and $1.50/$1,000. The board ultimately decided to approved the $2.71/$1,000 proposal because the $0.84 cents collected by the state, combined with the $2.71 collected by the district, is equal to the current $3.55 levy.

“As long as I’ve been on the board – and we’ve gone through six or seven of these – we’ve been very careful not to increase taxes beyond what our taxpayers are used to. Even when we went for the capital bond we were very careful not to raise beyond what our taxpayers were used to paying,” said Board Chair Ross Hamann.

At $2.71/$1,000, the district expects to collect $520,846 in 2019 and $562,433 in 2020, should the levy cap be lifted.

If the $1.50/$1,000 levy cap remains in place, the district would collect only $288,291 in 2019 and $311,310 in 2020. The board is concerned that amount will leave the district budget with a deep shortfall.

With legislation in flux, Superintendent Jon Mishra suggested that the district request the funding it needs, even if it ends up unable to collect that amount.

That way, the district won’t have to go back before the voters to request additional funding if the enrichment levy cap is eliminated, he said.