Let's keep our Mules kicking!

To The Eagle:

After reviewing long postponed and now essential repairs to Wahkiakum school buildings we reflected on everything that good school facilities mean to a community.

Positives include increased property values as families and children stay in the area, federal and state payments in support of schools continuing to bring essential revenue that ripples throughout the county, community pride and quality of life reflected in youth activities and accomplishments, and encouragement of employment and job growth.

Then we reflected on negative impacts that happen in communities that do not step up to support their schools. This includes decreasing property values as families and children move out of the area, reduced federal and state payments in support of schools, erosion of community pride, and loss of employers and job growth along with declining family support and wages.

I understand homes in the district were previously assessed under the last school bond. It is a gift to taxpayers that Wahkiakum Schools have endured so many years without asking for additional help. But it is now past time to provide the extra help the schools clearly need and put our shoulder back to the wheel. A failure to do so will only create further burdens and unintended consequences to taxpayers and citizens above and beyond the cost of paying for the school bond.

To support Wahkiakum schools and avoid such adverse consequences, it appears the average homeowner in the district (after benefiting from a tax holiday for so long, thank you!) will need to manage an increment beyond what homeowners were already paying for decades under the last bond. We are fortunate that inflation adjustments to our retirement income will allow us to handle most of this. The actual amount for us on a monthly basis is not much more than the usual upward winter swing in our heating costs. And we might skip a few movie nights in Longview. But for us, this is a modest sacrifice in exchange for a healthy community and the pride we all feel in supporting our school system and growing families. Supporting the school bond is a small price to pay to keep our Mules kicking!

This is not a tough call. We will vote “yes” on the much-needed Wahkiakum school bond.

David and Dayle Olson

Cathlamet