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Shelter Bay resident Maureen Ann Pilon died at age 70 on Wednesday, August 10. She had been a Shelter Bay resident for 11 years. Her husband, Robert Santeford, predeceased her in March. They both succumbed to blood cancers within months of one another. Maureen was a master gardener and a community member, who advocated a greener lifestyle and an appreciation of the importance of all creatures. Her dogs, Frankie and Daisy, miss her very much, as do the many humans in her life. Maureen grew up on...
The Washington Department of Revenue says it asked the state’s 39 county assessors for comment as it crafted the property tax policy that hit La Conner residents so hard. When homes were taken off the county’s tax rolls, a $1.8 million tax burden was shifted to the remaining taxpayers, some of whom saw their property tax bills jump by thousands of dollars. The state’s documentation of the process as it developed its response to the so-called Great Wolf Lodge decision shows assessors were never called in for meetings with state officials. But t...
Attorneys working for tribes, including some employed by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, helped write a Washington State Department of Revenue’s guidance document that had a profound effect on local taxpayers. Last year the Skagit County Assessor’s Office removed 931 La Conner area parcels from the county property tax rolls, which caused the tax burden to shift to the remaining taxpayers. Property taxes went up by more than 20 percent for many La Conner families – some saw their bills jump by thousands of dollars. Research by thi...
Beverly Jean Erickson, 88, died Tuesday July 19, at her home in Shelter Bay following a long illness. Beverly, the only child of Catherine and Rudy Erickson, was born in Proctor, Vermont on May 20, 1928 and grew up in Poultney, Vermont. She graduated from the Lennox Hill School of Nursing in New York City in 1949. Her nursing career carried her from Saudi Arabia to Palmer, Alaska and finally to Seattle, Washington where she continued her education to graduate as a nurse anesthetist. She was...
Skagit Bay Search & Rescue volunteers know all about changing tides. One that has remained constant, however, is the high tide of community support the local group has enjoyed while modifying a 23-foot custom aluminum vessel acquired last year through the Guemes Island Volunteer Fire Department. Donated and discounted labor will help make possible the formal launching later this summer from La Conner Marina of the Canadian-built craft. Major and minor upgrades alike have been under way for the...
The La Conner School Board has scheduled a study session for 5:30 p.m. Monday on the draft of the district’s 2016-2017 school year budget. For people who would like to look it over, the draft budget, which shows projected revenues of about $10.1 million in the district’s operating fund, has been posted on the school district’s website, http://lcsd.wednet.edu. After a proposed levy totaling nearly $1.5 million failed in February, the district held a series of public workshops on the budget, figuring places to trim. Voters approved a $995,...
For the last 40 years or so, local boating enthusiasts enjoyed a choice of two yacht clubs — the Swinomish Yacht Club, which traces its roots to 1939 but was officially chartered in 1972, and the Shelter Bay Yacht Club, formed in 1977. Now the La Conner Yacht Club, which is organizing this month, intends to offer a third choice for boater camaraderie. La Conner Yacht Club organizers Willard Cox and Babette Gundersen recently sent a letter to local business owners stating that their goal is to promote boating activities help draw more...
Fire District 13 is ready to start transporting patients to area hospitals with its new ambulance. Chief Roy Horn said the district was anticipating a go-ahead from the Skagit County Commissioners next week to get the program rolling. UPDATE: The approval came Monday to start it up with a six-month pilot program. Horn said that initially the ambulance will respond to calls only within the District 13 boundaries, but it will be available to be dispatched anywhere in the county if it is needed. “I envision us to eventually assist in La Conner a...
The Washington State Auditor’s office reported on Monday that it issued two “findings” against La Conner School District after examining some financial records. While most of the areas checked in the district’s yearly audit had no problems, the auditor issued findings — which are formal, documented criticisms — over two errors the district had caught and remedied long before the audit was conducted. The auditor’s office found that the district over-reported children on tribal land in its application for federal impact aid and that...
One thing was very obvious to the people attending the La Conner School District budget workshops — the school staff has been working very hard to find places the district can cut costs. Monday’s was the fourth in the seven-workshop series and like the others was attended mostly by school employees and a few taxpayers with no school ties. School Superintendent Tim Bruce told the group that nearly 80 percent of the school budget goes toward teacher and staff pay. “Think about keeping a quality teacher in every classroom,” he said. Shoul...
Swinomish Police apprehended a man described as a violent sex offender who was holding a woman hostage around 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Officers were able to rescue the woman and then stopped the suspect from fleeing by shooting out the passenger side tires of the van he was attempting to drive away. Chief of Police Andrew Thorne said nobody was injured and Crayton Todd Williams, 38, was arrested and faces numerous charges stemming from the incident, which occurred inSwinomishVillagenear the entrance...
Hand-lettered plywood signs set up by voters who are against the property tax levy proposed by La Conner Schools disappeared the day after they appeared. Somebody stole all six “Vote No” signs that were set out last Monday. Meanwhile, professionally created “Vote Yes La Conner Schools” signs and banners, mostly funded by the La Conner PTSA, have been on display and unmolested — though some were missing after the crazy March 13 windstorm. In Washington, stealing political signs is against...
More than 90 voters on the northeast end of Fire District 13 on Friday submitted a petition to the county auditor seeking to withdraw from that district and join neighboring Fire District 2. David Cunningham, county elections supervisor with the auditor’s office, said the county has 10 days — until March 14 — to determine whether the petition meets legal requirements set out by state law and validate the signatures. Voters in the Channel Drive neighborhood, as well as voters on Downey Road and along McLean Road to the border of Fire...
La Conner Schools officials plan to schedule public workshops on the upcoming school budget before voters decide the fate of a pared-down, second-try levy request. School Finance Director Bonnie Haley said voters will be asked to approve a one-year levy of $995,000. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters on April 8 and counted on April 26. The new levy vote comes before the budget is set in July for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year, but the district wants community participation in the budget process before the election. Public budget...
With two levies totaling close to $1.5 million rejected by voters this month, La Conner School District has shaved a half million and half the time off its request and will put it up for election again, the school board decided on Monday. In a special election set for April 26, voters in the La Conner School District will decide on a proposed one-year levy of $995,000, which is estimated to account for $2.08 per $1,000 of assessed valuation on property tax bills. Should this proposed levy pass, taxpayers in the La Conner district would be...
Something that’s apparently never happened before has prompted the La Conner School Board to call an emergency meeting tomorrow, Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Middle School gym. According to the unofficial results of last week’s special school election, La Conner voters soundly rejected two proposed levies totaling nearly $1.5 million. The levies failed, even though more than 52 percent of the registered voters live on land immune from school district taxes. The majority of the “yes” votes came from precincts on the Swinomish Indian Reserva...
A pair of replacement school levies in La Conner appeared headed for failure on Tuesday when preliminary election results were released. La Conner School district proposed a maintenance and operations levy and a technology levy to replace two levies that expire this year. Had they passed, they would have provided a total of nearly $1.5 million per year in school funding for 2017 and 2018. According to early vote counts released by the Skagit County Auditor’s office, the maintenance and operations levy was failing 58.5 “No” to 41.5 perce...
La Conner School District is in a historic situation — school officials are campaigning furi-ously to convince people to vote in two levies totaling nearly $1.5 million. For decades, La Conner residents have passed school bonds and levies in a landslide, with little more than a ballot question. Things are different this time, as ballots are mailed this week to some 3,500 voters. This time most of the voters are being asked to tax their neighbors, not themselves. After the locally infamous Great Wolf Lodge federal court decision, more...
Former Shelter Bay resident Virginia Hendrickson Osman died following a short illness on Sunday, January 10 at the age of 94. Born in Puyallup in 1921, Virginia and her husband, Steig B. Osman lived in Shelter Bay for many years. After Steig’s death, Virginia moved to Vermont in 2010 to be near her daughter, Cathy. She was surrounded by family in her last days and will be sorely missed....
About 50 people gathered at Maple Hall last week to hear La Conner Schools officials make the case for passing two levies totaling nearly $1.5 million in next month’s election. School officials have scheduled another meeting for today at 7 p.m. at the Shelter Bay clubhouse. Most of the voters in Shelter Bay live on land that cannot be taxed by the school district. But on the La Conner side of the Swinomish Channel, where voters still pay school taxes, several people stood up at last week’s mee...
La Conner School District officials have scheduled meetings with voters to answer questions about two proposed school levies that will appear on ballots to be mailed soon. The first meeting is today, Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Maple Hall in La Conner. Another meeting is scheduled at the Shelter Bay Clubhouse at 7 p.m. next Wednesday, Jan. 13. The school district is hoping that voters will approve the levies totaling nearly $1.5 million to replace voter-approved funding that expires at the end of this year. A proposed maintenance and operations...
In a special election on Feb. 9, La Conner Schools will ask voters to approve more than $1 million per year in taxes to be collected in 2017 and 2018. Two new levies will replace a maintenance and operations and a technology levy that were approved by voters in 2012 and expire at the end of 2016. The maintenance and opera-tions levy helps pay for school programs like foreign language instruction, music, drama, athletic coach salaries and other benefits for children that state funding does not cover. The tech levy, first approved by voters in...
Bobbie Butterworth walked out of her Shelter Bay home on Saturday to a heartbreaking sight — the nativity scene in her front yard had been smashed to bits. Swinomish Police Chief Andrew Thorne said Butterworth told police that neighbors reported hearing noises Friday night. In the morning, when Butter-worth discovered that the figures in her nativity scene had been destroyed, she called the police. Swinomish Officer Aaron Nelson responded to the call. For years, the Butterworth’s S...
The La Conner School Board met Monday and is expected to call for a special election in February to ask voters to approve more than $1 million in taxes to take effect in 2017. Although the board appeared to reach a consensus to ask voters to approve a maintenance and operations levy of $1,195,000 and a technology levy of $295,000, the board adjourned and continued its meeting to Thursday evening to vote. The main question left on the table on Monday was whether to seek one-year levies for 2017 or two-year levies that would expire at the end of...
It’s official. The 2015 holiday season has begun. Maple Hall was decked out in holiday splendor when the Christmas concert started Sunday evening. The musical event was coordinated by Madeleine Roozen Cook and featured our fabulously talented Skagit Valley musicians and singers. An incredible amount of musicians were there to entertain the packed house, singing and playing all our favorite carols, from “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas,” to “Baby it’s Cold Outside.” Members of our prestigious S...
