Superintendent asks support for levy

To The Eagle:

In your August 7, 2014, issue of The Eagle, Diana Zimmerman did an excellent job of conveying accurate information regarding Wahkiakum School District’s upcoming levy election on November 4, 2014. Along with other local and state issues, Wahkiakum School District will have a Capital Projects Fund levy request on this fall’s ballot, specifically to meet security and technology needs of its school buildings.

Most of you will recall that our community overwhelmingly supported our maintenance and operations levy held last February, and all of us affiliated with the school system are very grateful. As the superintendent of the school district and its chief financial officer, I do not take lightly, nor for granted, the unfailing support that our school system receives from our community.

During my twenty years with Wahkiakum School District, I and our multiple school boards over that tenure, have done our very best to keep our local tax burden as low as possible. We have been fiscally conservative and conscious of our efforts to make every dollar a dollar well spent.

We are now living in a new era, however, and there is a visible need facing us that has not been on our horizon until just recently. I am not an alarmist, nor do I believe that “the sky is falling,” however in this day of recurring, horrific incidences involving school violence across our country, we must be cognizant of the fact that “it could happen here.”

In conjunction with our local sheriff’s office, fire departments, and emergency medical services, the District has engaged, and continues to participate, in developing a response plan to an active assailant situation at our schools. In addition, the school district has recently (since the planning of our maintenance and operations levy in February) received a list of facility upgrades recommended by a risk management construction group after the group completed a security assessment of the district’s facilities.

In response to these developments, the school district board of directors has authorized placing a technology and security levy on the November ballot. If successful, the four-year measure will cost taxpayers an estimated $0.29 per $1,000 of their assessed property per year. In other words, a homeowner with a $100,000 home will be assessed $29 per year for the next four years, to pay for the technology and security measures.

Within the next week patrons will be receiving a flyer in the US mail from the District that provides more information about this measure. In addition, the County Auditor plans to place the mail-in ballots in the US mail on October 17. In the meantime, please feel free to give me a call at 795-3971 should you have any questions regarding these issues. Thank you.

Bob Garrett

Superintendent

Wahkiakum School District