$3 million bond, levy for Blaine School District before voters

BLAINE - Blaine School District voters are facing, for the third time in recent years, a bond request - this time for $3 million for repairs and improvements, with the biggest chunk going to remodel the high school science building.

The measure is significantly less than the $32 million bond request that voters narrowly turned down in April, and the $40 million one they said no to in 2008.

Also on the Feb. 14 ballot is a request to approve a four-year levy for maintenance and operations for the school district. The measure would replace one that expires at the end of 2012.

If approved, the levy would raise $6.1 million in 2013, increasing to $6.5 million in 2016 to help pay for the cost of education. Blaine, like other school districts, is depending more on local taxpayers because of cuts in education funding, especially from the state over the past four years.

"If we're going to sustain the programs now in place after four years of cuts, the levy share has to increase in order to do that," said Ron Spanjer, superintendent for the Blaine School District.

If voters OK the levy request and the bond, the owner of a $250,000 home would pay about $62.50 more in school property taxes in 2013 than 2012. (The projected overall tax rate includes existing bond debt, in addition to the bond going before voters on the Feb. 14 ballot.)

The levy needs a simple majority of 50.1 percent to pass. The bond needs 40 percent voter turnout from the last general election and 60 percent approval to pass.

Here's a look at each measure.

BOND

If approved, the $3 million bond would pay for:

• remodeling Blaine High School's science building, which has just 40 percent of the lab space the school needs, at an estimated cost of $2.4 million. "The science building is highly inadequate and antiquated as it is," Spanjer said.

• moving the middle school and high school Life Skills programs out of converted locker rooms to their respective campuses, for $235,000.

• retrofitting lighting at the high school to meet federal requirements, for $120,000.

• upgrading heating and ventilation at the middle and elementary schools, for $165,000.

• expanding the security camera system at the elementary and primary school campuses, for $80,000.

The $32 million bond that went before voters in April had about 59.2 percent support, but that wasn't enough.

Spanjer said the majority of that larger bond was to be used for the complete renovation of Blaine High School. He said voters didn't question the need for that project, just the timing.

"The economy was front and center in that," he said, adding that the district was told "that it was too much right now for this economy."

So the district reduced the bond request to focus on what was most urgent, officials said, and that was the high school's science building.

Officials also scaled back the bond in recognition that two spending requests were going before voters and to allow for all bond debt to be paid off in 2016.

LEVY

Spanjer said a yes vote on the levy would help the district maintain programs, if state revenue stays constant.

"Sustaining programs has really become the key objective in this down economy, particularly in consideration of state revenue cuts," he said.

The maintenance and operations levy is becoming a larger part of the district's operating budget. It had been about 24 percent. The new levy will be nearly 30 percent by 2016 as the school district attempts to bridge the gap in state funding with local dollars.

If the levy and $3 million bond are approved, the projected overall tax rate - combining the levy, the new bond and outstanding payments for a previous bond - would climb to $2.64 per $1,000 of a home's assessed value.

That would be up from the overall projected rate of $2.39 per $1,000 in 2012.

So the owner of a $250,000 home would pay $660 in 2013, up from $597.50 in 2012.

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' be above what voters OK.

BLAINE LEVY, BOND FACTS

Here's a quick look at the overall estimated tax rates property owners in Blaine School District would pay if voters on Feb. 14 approve a replacement levy for maintenance and operations as well as a $3 million bond

• 2013: $2.64 per $1,000 of a home's assessed value.*

• 2014: $2.66.

• 2015: $2.68.

• 2016: $2.57.

*The projected tax rate includes payment for two bonds, which would make up $1.02 per $1,000 of a home's assessed value in the three years leading up to 2016, when it is expected to drop to 89 cents.

Learn more online blaine.wednet.edu.

OTHER DISTRICTS

The Bellingham Herald has already published articles on the six other districts' levies on the Feb. 14 ballot. To read any of those, go to bellinghamherald.com/elections.