EPHRATA – As February 11 draws closer, Ephrata School District Superintendent Ken Murray says he wants to make sure voters in the district have what they need to make an informed decision regarding the school district’s education programs and operations levy. The levy is set to replace the current levy that expires this year. 

“It’s really not about expanding our program, it’s about maintaining our program,” Murray said during a Monday interview.  

The district’s current levy is set to expire at the end of the calendar year and sets a tax rate of $1.58 per $1,000 of assessed property value for land in the district. If voters approve the replacement levy, that rate is anticipated to increase to $1.85 per $1,000 of assessed value. However, Murray said a transportation levy set to expire this year will offset that increase to an extent.  

“In 2025 there’s actually a reduction in the expense of the local tax burden on our community because of that transportation levy, which allowed us to purchase four buses and get our bus fleet in a good spot for depreciation,” Murray said. “That’s also going away.”  

The transportation levy weighed in at about $0.24 per $1,000, bringing a combined rate of the transportation and EP&O to $1.82 per $1,000. The net increase in comparison would be about three cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Information provided by the district estimates about $10.75 added monthly for the average Ephrata residence. If approved by Ephrata voters, the levy would fund the district through 2029 from an operations perspective.  

Murray said the levy covers school operations expenses that the apportionment – the amount of funding received based on the number of students the district has – doesn't cover. That includes pens, pencils, paper and utility bills, among other costs.  

The Ephrata School District is about 10% funded by levy dollars and Local Effort Assistance, or LEA, funding, he said. LEA money is taxes paid to the state that are then redistributed to districts that are considered property-poor, wherein they don’t have sufficient taxable property value to pay for all of the district’s operations without placing an undue burden on the district. That can mean a variety of things, including not having enough high-value industrial land or having a lot of nontaxable property such as state and federally owned land and facilities.  

In previous interviews, Murray said the LEA is estimated at about $13 million while the levy is expected to bring in $11.5 million during the levy’s four-year term. 

Money raised from property taxes through the levy will support a variety of programs, Murray said. That includes ensuring technology is kept up to date, college in the high school continues to help students obtain college credits while still at Ephrata High and sending teams out for sports and academic competitions. Last year, Murray said the current levy funded 285 trips to competitions and events.  

“We took our students around the Earth almost one and a half times on those trips, and so, you know, without levy dollars, our kids are staying here in Ephrata – not going around the Earth 1.5 times,” Murray said.  

Editor’s note: The Columbia Basin Herald does not endorse any ballot measure or candidate, but we do encourage our readers to vote in every election and to do so in an informed manner. To ensure your vote is counted, drop it off at a ballot drop box by Feb. 11 or have it postmarked by that date. Due to the rural nature of the communities we serve, anyone voting after Feb. 7 is encouraged to utilize a ballot drop box. Postmarks are applied outside of Grant County and can take a day or two to be stamped on an envelope.