Writer comments on Naselle bond issue

To The Eagle:

As in the Wizard of Oz, voters need to pull the curtain back and have a look for themselves.

Naselle School District is pushing back when voters say no, understand that, we’ve watered and fed that behavior, and it grew. No means no, no matter who says it.

A few weeks ago I received a letter signed “Voters for Accountability”. This letter talked about various issues going on in our school. Although I agree with their concerns, I felt there were a number of issues not addressed. At the end of the day it comes back to the same issues: lack of honesty, accountability, and integrity. I will address this later in this open letter to voters, but first I would like to address the last bond vote and the head fakes given to voters.

During the recent bond vote, voters of our district were being told, “For every “$100,000 of assessed valuation, property owners would see an increase of $6.08 a month.”

Rebuttal: According to the assessor’s office, the bond monthly cost on $100,000 of assessed valuation would be $19.16 per month or $230 annually. This is in addition to the $323 per year Maintenance and Operations (M&O) levy and $234 state school tax property owners currently pay. If your home is assessed at $100,000, your annual tax bill including the bond would be $787. If your home is assessed at $200,000, these figures would double.

The voters of our district are being told, For every $100,000 of assessed valuation,

“Tax payers in the 25 percent tax bracket, the cost would go down from $6.08 to $4.56 a month.”

“Tax payers in the 35 percent tax bracket, the cost would go down from $6.08 to $3.95 a month.”

Rebuttal: In order for this to be true, tax payers would need to itemize their tax return. Since 70 percent of taxpayers do not itemize, this leaves about 30 percent of the tax payers that could see this benefit. To complicate matters even more, 25 percent of Pacific County seniors claim a property tax exemption; add in the millions of dollars of property not been taxed (properties owned by groups such as Nature Conservancy, Cascade Land, Fortara, and others); this significantly impacts our levy rate.

The voters of our district are being told: “With a capital bond in place the Naselle-Grays River Valley District would be eligible for state timber revenues. The supplement has amounted to $27,360 each year and $450,000 in the last 18 years. This money is applied to the operation of the school system. If no bond is in place the school district is no longer eligible for timber revenues.”

Rebuttal: According to the Pacific County Treasurers Office in 2011-2012 the Naselle School received $3,938.81 of State Timber Tax Money, a far cry from the stated $27,360. One of the biggest reasons for the reduction of state timber tax dollars in recent years is largely because of the Marbled Murrelet. Private timber tax dollars continue to come to our district regardless of a bond or no bond.

Put this together with an enrollment decline of 26 percent since 2006 (10 percent since last year) and M&O increase of 31 percent since 2005 may have given pause to voters.

Although there is little doubt that voters agree the upgrades would be good for our district, offering recommended classes to college bound students and more vocational programs for the non-college bound students are more important. Eight million dollars could easily employ two teachers for the next fifty years. As charter schools become a reality in our state, the district’s focus needs to be education.

Our community deserves more than what is going on at our school. You as a voter need to peek behind the curtain and determine for yourself if my concerns or concerns by the “Voters for Accountability” are valid. Am I, just as the school says, a trouble maker and unsupportive of our children? Honesty, accountability, and integrity should still stand for something.

Bud Strange

Naselle