MATTAWA — The Wahluke School District is running a replacement levy on the Feb. 11 ballot.

“This levy would replace the levy passed in 2018,” said Robert Eckert, Wahluke School District superintendent. “Taxes wouldn’t increase. They would stay about the same.”

The rate for the levy is $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. It would be collected in 2021 and 2022 and would bring in an estimated $2.2 million to $2.4 million for the district.

Wahluke School District levies fund a variety of things, including all junior high and high school athletics programs, as well as portions of field trips, utilities, maintenance of school facilities and grounds, substitutes and technology. While the state does cover some of these areas, the levy increases what the district is able to do. Once the money from a levy is collected, it is put into the district’s general operating fund and distributed as needed.

If the levy doesn’t pass, the district will be forced to cut back expenditures by $2 million.

“Junior high and high school athletics – the state doesn’t give any money to do that,” Eckert said. “If we lose the levy, we’ll have to make a decision to cut all athletics or some of the them. It would be a planning discussion after the fact. What can we cut to not spend that money?”

The cuts would be on a larger scale than the programs that were cut in August when the district realized that it had more expenses than expected for the month. The difference would be that the district would have approximately six months to plan for the cuts.

When asked what he would say to someone who didn’t want to vote for the levy, Eckert reiterated that taxes wouldn’t go up but would probably be a little lower. The exception to that would be if assessed property values went up. He also said that if there is a reason that someone plans to vote against the levy, such as a belief that the district is wasting public money, is providing something the voter doesn’t agree with or is not providing a service the voter believes it should be, he would like to be able to have the opportunity to address the issue.

“We need to know what the problem was that we need to fix,” Eckert said.

Ballots will be mailed out on Friday, Jan. 24. Voters have until Tuesday, Feb. 11, to return their ballots. Unregistered voters are able to register through Feb. 3 at the Grant County elections page.

To learn more about the proposed Wahluke levy, visit wsd73.wednet.edu.

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at [email protected].