'Emergency' meeting over failed levies

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 Reservation, where most of the land cannot be taxed by public agencies.

Still, at last count the school district’s maintenance and operations levy and the technology levy were both headed for failure with almost 57 percent “no” votes.

The only precinct where the “yes” votes were ahead was Swinomish, where most of the voters are members of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

In Shelter Bay’s precinct, which in recent years has had a transient population — 32 homes were sold last year and 17 are presently on the market — the maintenance and operations levy was defeated by a very narrow 8-vote margin in an early count.

The final count of votes in this election is set for Friday, when the election results are certified. According to the Elections division of the Skagit County Auditor’s Office, on Tuesday there were just under 400 ballots county-wide left to count, but it has not been determined how many are from the La Conner School District.

Last week, La Conner Schools Supt. Tim Bruce said he sent out a notice to all the school staff to suggest budget cuts that can be made with the least impact on students.

The school board has until next Friday, Feb. 26, to send another levy proposal to the Auditor’s Office for an election in April.

This week, the school district’s website had a survey, asking people whether they would favor a 1-year, 2-year, 3-year or 4-year levy and whether they favor a technology levy.

Although whether to even seek a second vote on levies is a decision for the school board, Bruce said proposing a smaller one-year levy might be an option.

He said if no levy is approved, when the current levies expire at the end of this year the district would have to make drastic cuts that would impact students.

Many of the people opposed to the levies say they cast reluctant “no” votes because of the unfair tax situation caused by a federal court’s so-called Great Wolf Lodge decision, and they feel nothing will change without drastic action.

Last year 931 homes, including most houses in the Shelter Bay development built on leased tribal land were removed from the county property tax rolls.

That shifted the tax burden to the remaining taxpayers — many of whom saw their property tax bills jump by nearly 25 percent. In La Conner, school funding accounts for nearly half of the average tax bill, so the school levies became the target for the local tax revolt.

Although Swinomish estab-lished its own tax authority and began assessing property taxes on the non-tribal members who own homes on leased reservation land, it is not passing the approximately $2 million it collects through to the agencies that used to be funded when the county was taxing them.

Instead, the tribe made a contribution of $400,000 to the schools last year, which is just over half the money the district would have received in taxes from the homes it can’t tax anymore.

“The people have spoken decisively,” said La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes.

Though he voted “yes” on the levies, he said he understands why people opposed them.

We take our rights and liberties seriously,” Hayes said. “And people feel they have not been respected all the way around. ”