Ridgefield, Mount Pleasant levies ahead in early results

Replacement levies in both the Ridgefield School District and Mount Pleasant School District are ahead after initial results from Tuesday night’s special election.

Ridgefield’s levy is sitting at 56.22 percent, or 2,546 votes in favor, with 1,983 votes against. Things are a bit closer in Mount Pleasant, a K-8 district at the entrance of the Columbia River Gorge near Washougal with about 55 students. There, the levy received 53.85 percent in favor of the 78 total votes tallied, with 42 in favor and 36 against. It was an even split in Clark County, where two votes came in for the levy and two came in against it. The rest came from Skamania County.

Tuesday was the first time Ridgefield has turned to voters since they voted against a proposed $77 million bond issue in February. Superintendent Nathan McCann said earlier this year he thinks the district will run that bond again sometime in the future, possibly as soon as February 2020.

“We’re grateful,” McCann said. “You’d rather not go out twice so close together if you can help it.”

Ridgefield levy

As part of the new state funding model for education, local levies are capped at $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which is what Ridgefield requested for all three years of the levy, which would start in 2020. The new levy cap has made things more difficult for the district. Previously, levy dollars funded about 20 percent of the budget, McCann said. This year, the first with the new cap, that number is at about 14 percent.

Levy dollars are used for special education, additional support staff, extracurricular activities, outdoor school, professional development for staff and technology in Ridgefield, McCann said.

“These are essential, still,” McCann said. “It’s hard to understand that with infusion of additional money from the Legislature. Levies still support a critical role in the education of students. Levies continue to be vital to school districts.”

When the cap passed, the district was already in the middle of a voter-approved levy. The 2019 levy approved by Ridgefield voters was intended to generate $7.57 million at an estimated rate of $2.62 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The 2020 levy requested by the district is for $6,144,310, McCann said, adding he’s not sure the district will raise that amount at the $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value cap.

Like many other neighboring districts, Ridgefield is facing a deficit in the upcoming school year. The district anticipates having a deficit of about $750,000 for the 2019-2020 school year.

“When we construct the final budget, we’ll have a much clearer idea of the numbers,” McCann said. “It’s a manageable deficit for the 2019-2020 school year.”

Mount Pleasant levy

Officials in Mount Pleasant did things a little different with their levy. While the state caps levies are $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, Mount Pleasant’s levy up for vote Tuesday night exceeded that amount for all three years.

The district asked for $155,000 per year, which Mount Pleasant can get to with estimated levy rates of $3.53 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2020, $3.48 per $1,000 in 2021 and $3.43 per $1,000 in 2022.

Superintendent Vicki Prendergast said earlier this year the district can only collect what the state allows, but Mount Pleasant officials are hoping the Legislature raises the cap at some point in the next three years, and the district won’t have to wait until the levy expires to start collecting more money.

The district’s voter-approved levy rate for 2019 would have been $2.91 before the levies were capped. That amount would have brought in roughly $155,000 for Mount Pleasant, according to Kristin Correll, business manager for Educational Service District 112, which works with the district. With the changes to the levy cap, the district is anticipating collecting approximately $79,988 for the 2019 calendar year, a loss of about $75,000.

If the levy cap remains the same, Mount Pleasant estimates collecting a little more than $84,400 in 2020 and a little more than $87,400 in 2021 and 2022, according to Correll.

Mount Pleasant uses levy dollars for music, art, enrichment activities, the district’s highly capable student program, swim lessons, some instructional costs and ongoing facility maintenance.