The Medical Lake School District is getting ready to renew their general levy, though it appears there will be no changes.
At its Nov. 18 meeting, the school board of directors approved a resolution for a Feb. 10, 2015, vote on renewing the district’s operations and maintenance levy annually for three years (2016, 2017 and 2018) on all taxable property within the district. The levy rate will be $2.20 per $1,000 assessed property valuation and will bring in approximately $1.2 million to the district per year.
“This levy is a renewal of a previous levy that was approved by district voters in 2012,” Medical Lake Business Manager Don Johnson said. “It is staying the current rate.”
Johnson explained that the levy represents 6 percent of the district’s operation budget and helps pay for extracurricular activities, teachers for reduced classroom sizes and all-day kindergarten. According to Johnson, the district wasn’t sure if they would be able to continue with all-day kindergarten.
“We had to look at all-day kindergarten and ask ‘can we do it another year?’” Johnson said. “Once we saw test scores, we knew we had to do it.”
If the levy is approved, Johnson said the district would qualify for Local Effort Assistance (LEA), which is state-matching money that is paid on levies in districts with high tax rates due to low assessed valuations. Johnson said LEA would provide the school district with an additional $1.5 million per year.
“For us to run our maximum levy would be a very high cost compared to Cheney or a more typical district,” Johnson said. “The LEA is a way the state equalizes it (the maximum levy) for poor property districts.”
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)