Voters approve tax increases in San Juan Islands

SCHOOL LEVY ELECTION 2002

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Voters approve tax increases

posted 03/12/02
Voters in the Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Island school districts approved four-year maintenance and operation levies in the March 12, 2002 election. By a 76 to 24 percent margin San Juan Island voters approved their district's levy which asked for the maximum allowed. The district will collect 31 percent more local taxes in 2006 than 2002. Orcas voters voted 74 to 26 percent for their levy which has a 13 percent increase over the four years. Lopez voters approved by a margin of 71 to 29 percent their levy which has a 14 percent increase over the four years.

School districts ask for tax increase

posted 02/19/02
Ballots seeking voters' approval of tax increases will be in the mail tomorrow (Feb. 20, 2002). Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Island school districts are asking voters to renew and increase their maintenance and operation levies. Over the four years of the levy Orcas is requesting a 13 percent increase, Lopez is asking for a 14 percent increase and San Juan Island is requesting a 31 percent increase in the dollar amount to be collected.

School districts can ask for local levies of up to 24 percent of the amount of money they receive from the state and federal government. Roughly 80 to 85 percent of the school districts' budgets pay for personnel.

To determine the levy amount, the districts must estimate what they expect to receive in funding. Because of initiatives passed by voters last year, the amount of funding districts can receive from the state increased. The amount the districts can ask for also went up according.

Once a dollar amount is determined, the school board then decides how much of the amount they want to ask taxpayers to pay. San Juan Island School District Board believes in "full funding" and has asked for the maximum amount. Lopez Island is asking for less in 2003 than they did in 2002.

The levy rate necessary to collect the amount requested appears on the ballot along with the dollar figure. Because of changes in assessments, the levy rate can fluctuate. When assessments go up, the rate needed to collect a set amount goes down. The taxpayer would pay a lower rate but on a higher assessment. While taxpayers can end up paying a different levy rate than predicted, the dollar amount can not increase. If the schools over estimate the amount they can collect, they must rollback the excess.

The three school districts decided to run their levy election on the same date and to ask for a four-year levy in order to to save the taxpayers money in election costs. The election is mail-in only. All ballots must be postmarked by March 12, 2002.

Lopez Island School District
year	Assessed value district	levy rate per thousand	levy amount
2001	$569,221,861	$1.04	$596,015
2002	$730,923,678	$.81	$595,425
2003		$.75	$556,485
2004		$.78	$595,439
2005		$.78	$637,120
2006		$.82	$681,718
Orcas Island School District
year	Assessed value district	levy rate per thousand	levy amount
2001	$1,149,865,970	$.64	$734,684
2002	$1,183,877,691	$.62	$749,785
2003		$.52	$794,648
2004		$.53	$814,515
2005		$.53	$817,657
2006		$.48	$851,000
San Juan Island School District
year	Assessed value district	levy rate per thousand	levy amount
2001	$1,515,839,257	$.79	$1,201,515
2002	$1,609,287,821	$.75	$1,207,835
2003		$.81	$1,312,878
2004		$.79	$1,411,994
2005		$.82	$1,503,173
2006		$.87	$1,587,904

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Voters approve tax increases

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