GUEST EDITORIAL: Misconceptions about Sultan school bond's effect on property taxes

I-áam always amazed by the amount of passion a small town can show when an election rolls around. The current school bond put before the voters of Sultan is a prime example. Several letters to the editor of this and other newspapers give legitimacy to this passion. Because school finance is in my opinion, overly complicated in this state, there are a couple points that I feel have been misconstrued, and I hope to clarify those points.

1. The amount of a property owners taxes for this bond will not go up in dollars per month/year if our property value increases. If our property value increases the dollars per thousand go down and the same amount is collected for this bond. If more homes are built in our district, the amount actually collected per property will go down, as it will be divided between more payers. This is different than many other types of taxing districts, i.e. Fire, Police, etc.

2. It has been alluded to that some of the items on our repair/replace list such as the roofs could have/should have been covered by levy dollars from past levies as opposed to new bond dollars. While it is true that these items can be covered by levies, had we chosen to do this we would have had to cut programs that were important to student success. Instead, we tightened our belts and worked diligently to provide the students with a good educational experience while minimizing expenses in every department and program. We made due with repairing what we had, as affordably as we could.-á There is a limit to the levy percentage and like most schools in our area we are at the maximum percentage. Because of lower property values in our area we collect less money at the max percentage to run the schools than some more property rich districts. The state does offset this somewhat with levy equalization dollars to help provide a closer to level playing field but it is a flawed system. If more monies could have been collected by law I don't believe it would have been good for the community, and it is important to note that in the last three levy elections 35-44% of voters have said no.

3. The state matching dollars referred to by some, are dependent on the things we do within the bond. The district used experts in school finance to get the best bang for your tax dollar. The math is somewhat complex but simply put, if we spend less on the buildings we get less in matching funds. We used cost estimator experts in school construction to make certain we could deliver what the bond promises, and made certain we were getting that best bang for our buck in matching funds.

4. Lastly, the state harvests trees from State Forest trust lands and the moneys from those trees are distributed to certain school districts, Sultan being one of them. The amount a district gets is tied to their bond debt. Basically, the more you owe the more you get. These monies were used in the past to help fund the high school sports complex, and in the future they could be used to continually improve our district. They are available for capital projects only, meaning generally bricks and mortar. These yearly payouts were at times nearly three quarters of a million dollars. We now collect much less per year as harvests slowed for a time and our debt has declined substantially. I don't like this model but it is the one we have to work with. It's sort of counterintuitive, but by carrying a debt now, it saves our taxpayers future dollars by potentially avoiding future bond needs.

Maintaining while continuing to improve a school district takes many people working very hard for our kids, and it also requires many hard working people's hard earned dollars. It is my sincere hope that our community can stop bickering and come together and support this much needed bond. I believe together we can be creative and fiscally responsible in how we build and implement these much needed enhancements and improvements, and by putting all of our heads together possibly do more than we have promised. No designs are done or set in stone. You can be a part of making the Sultan School District the place it can and I believe should be by voting yes in this election.

Russ Sumpter is the chairman for the Sultan School Board, but this editorial represents his personal opinion.