Nooksack Valley

Nooksack Valley School District voters will be asked to approve two levies on Feb. 14 — one a replacement measure to help pay for day-to-day operations, and the other a new one to pay for technology as well as maintenance of school roofs and floors.

If approved, the four-year measures would bring in $3.7 million to $4.2 million a year from 2013 through 2016.

“Our schools are a great investment,” Superintendent Mark Johnson said.

To continue to improve “we need local folks to continue to support our schools and our children,” he said. “It is an investment but it’s an important one. I can’t think of a more important one.”

The new levy, known as the technology and capital project levy, would begin the same year a bond is paid off. (The last bond payment is December 2013.) For that reason, its proposed collection in 2013 is lower — at $100,000 — before climbing to $500,000 in the remaining years.

Even with both levies and the last of the bond payment, the projected tax rate would be lower starting in 2013, when it is expected to be $5.67 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value, compared to $5.85 for 2012.

That means the owner of a $200,000 home would pay an estimated $1,170 in school property taxes in 2012, but $1,134 in 2013.

Here’s a look at both levies, which voters are being asked to OK as the school district grapples with more than $1.2 million in federal and state cuts in funding in recent years:

• The educational maintenance and operations levy would replace the current levy that expires at the end of 2012.

Like the current one, it would make up more than 20 percent of the district’s budget and would pay for educational needs such as textbooks, class-size reduction and support, building operations and extra-curricular activities that include athletics and music.

• The technology and capital projects levy would pay for major maintenance and needed technology, such as classroom computers and replacing a 25-year-old phone system. The state doesn’t pay for classroom technology, district officials said.

In addition to school roofs and floors, this levy would pay for energy retrofitting that would save future energy costs.

The levy would be a pay-as-you-go approach and, unlike a bond, would not require interest payments, officials said.

When voters approve a levy, they are approving the maximum amount of money a district can collect in property taxes from residents. The tax rate may fluctuate, but the bottom-line amount the district receives can’t be above what voters approve.

LEVY FACTS

Estimated tax rates property owners in Nooksack Valley School District would pay if voters on Feb. 14 approve two levies, one a replacement levy for maintenance and operations and the other for technology and capital projects.

• 2013: $5.67 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value.*
• 2014: $5.09.
• 2015: $5.09.
• 2016: $5.09.

* The projected tax rate includes a bond, which will be paid off in 2013. That bond adds another $1.19 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value.