The Centralia School District will hold a special meeting on Nov. 30 to decide on a two-year levy request to place on the February 2023 ballot.
The district’s current levy, which passed by 73 votes in May 2021 after two prior attempts to pass similar measures at higher rates failed, is set to expire at the end of December 2023.
The school board plans to vote later this month for one of two possible levy requests presented by the district’s executive director of finance, Joe Vetter, at the board’s regular meeting on Wednesday:
• Maintain the amount the district currently collects, $4,600,000, by lowering the collection rates to $1.05 for 2024 and $0.92 for 2025. This rate decrease would lead to a loss of about 33% of the Local Effort Assistance funds the district receives from the state.
• Replace the levy at the current rate, $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. Collection totals would be $6,700,000 for 2024 and $7,600,000 for 2025.
• Increase the current rate by 10 cents to $1.60 per $1,000 for both 2024 and 2025. Collection totals would be $7,100,000 for 2024 and $8,100,000 for 2025.
• Increase the current rate by 25 cents to $1.75 per $1,000 for both 2024 and 2025. Collection rates would be $7,700,000 for 2024 and $8,800,000 for 2025.
The district’s budget task force selected the proposed rates based on a five-year property value average, which projected a 14% increase for both 2024 and 2025, according to Vetter.
The expected cost of living increase, or implicit price deflator (IPD) rate, for public school staff is estimated around 8% for the 2023-2024 school year, according to Vetter, meaning the district would need to increase its budget to maintain its current staffing levels.
The budget task force aimed to balance the district’s needs with being sensitive to voters’ financial concerns, according to Vetter.
“There’s a lot of uncomfortability with asking for too much,” Vetter said.
After some discussion over the benefits and draws to each of the rate proposals on Wednesday, the Centralia School Board opted to postpone the matter and scheduled a special session for 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 30, ahead of its regular monthly study session.
The board asked district staff to come back for that meeting with details on what the levy currently funds and what the 10 cent and 25 cent rate increases would support.
“We have tried to minimize, for years, asking the least amount we can ask for in order to maintain. And that’s okay if you want to be average, but if you want to be better than that, maybe you have to put a few more resources in,” said board chair Tim Browning.
Districts are only able to file for a levy twice in a calendar year.
The Centralia School District operated without levy dollars between December 2020 and the 2022 levy collection cycle — leading to layoffs last summer — after multiple attempts to pass a replacement levy failed at the ballot box.
In February 2020, voters denied a levy rate of $2.50 per $1,000 in assessed value with a 69% no vote. Then, in August, voters rejected another measure, this time for $2.00 per $1,000 assessed with 50.38% of voters against it, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
Only when the district lowered its request by another 50 cents did voters approve the replacement levy with 50.66% of voters in favor and 49.34% against.
