By Pepper Fisher
SEQUIM – The Sequim School Board voted Monday night to present two school levies to voters in February’s special election.
Proposition 1 will replace the existing Educational levy that expires next year, and will raise an average of about $7.5 million per year over 4 years to maintain existing programs and operations.
Proposition 2 is a 4-year, $15 million capital levy to support the construction, modernization and remodeling of school facilities.
We spoke with Board President Brandino Gibson:
“We’re using it to fix all the stuff that we’ve been needing to fix for years within the district from roof repairs to heating and cooling systems to technology, septic hookups on a couple of our schools, that kind of stuff. It covers everything we need and it comes in at a much lower tax rate for our taxpayers. So that was an important factor there, it fixes everything and it keeps the tax rate down.”
That tax rate would be about $1.86 per $1,000 assessed property value.
The Special Election is set for Tuesday, February 9.