Voters in the Ferndale School District will be asked to approve a replacement four-year maintenance and operations levy in February.
If approved, the levy would bring in between $13 million and $15.5 million each year from 2013-2016. The levy, which helps fund day-to-day operations of the district, would replace the two-year maintenance and operations levy that expires at the end of 2012. The decision to run a four-year levy instead of a two-year levy so that the district doesn’t have to pay for another election in two years.
The Ferndale School Board unanimously approved the levy amount and length at a meeting Tuesday night, Nov. 22.
When voters approve a levy, they are approving the maximum amount of money a district can collect in property taxes from residents – the tax rate may fluctuate, but the bottom-line amount the district receives can’t be above the approved amounts.
If approved, the estimated overall school property tax rates range from $4.66 in 2013, to $4.59 per $1,000 in 2016. That means a person with a home assessed at $250,000 would pay $1,165 in school property taxes in 2013 and $1,147 in 2016.
The new levy tax rate is expected to be about 33 cents more per $1,000 than the projected tax rate for 2012. That means a person with a home assessed at $250,000 would pay about $82 more in school property taxes in 2013 than 2012. The projected tax rate is expected to be lower than it was for residents from 2000 to 2004, but higher than the rate since 2005.
About $1 per $1,000 of the projected tax rate is for outstanding district bonds.
The current levy, which voters approved in 2010, allows the district to collect $11.28 million in 2012. That equals nearly 25 percent of the district’s operating budget.
The levy amount approved by the board is higher this time around due to expectations that state funding cuts will continue. In Gov. Chris Gregoire’s recently released 2012 supplemental budget proposal, she calls for shortening the school year and reducing or eliminating levy equalization funding, which is money that helps property-poor districts keep property taxes from being too high for residents. For the Ferndale School District, cuts outlined by Gregoire would equal about $1.1 million, said Mark Deebach, executive director of business and support services.
Ballots will be mailed to voters in late January for the February 14 election. The other six school districts in Whatcom County will also be running replacement levies during the February election, although not all districts have set amounts or estimated tax rates.
For more information about the levy, visit ferndale.wednet.edu.
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