What would the bond buy?
The Anacortes School District’s $59.8 million bond request includes $23.9 million for a new career and technology education wing at Anacortes High School; $19.5 million to renovate and reconfigure the existing parts of AHS; improvements to athletic fields at AHS including $2.2 million for a prefabricated stadium with covered bleachers, $4 million for War Memorial Field and $1.4 million for Rice Field; $2.8 million for a new district maintenance and storage facility; and $7 million for a new community gym at Mount Erie Elementary School and reconfiguration of a parking lot, bus lane and student drop-off lane.

How did they come up with that?
The district’s facilities committee met about 19 times over the past year to identify needs in the district.

Bryan Young, the district’s project manager, chaired the committee and led discussions. Community members on the committee included Doug Colglazier, Dick Smock, Laura Smock, Jim Miller, Marv Klinger, Bill Larson and Gary Robinson. Jim Grove attended two of the meetings.

They identified needs in three areas: Anacortes High School, Mount Erie Elementary School and the district’s maintenance facility. The committee also suggested looking at a community athletic facility.

As the School Board looked at setting the bond amount, project costs initially totaled $76 million. District leaders sought public feedback beginning in December 2006. The School Board approved requesting the $59.8 million bond after postponing some of the work and scaling back the projects.

How does this compare to recent bonds?
The district last passed a bond 10 years ago. In 1997, voters passed a $14.9 million, 20-year bond for improvements and equipment at Anacortes Middle School and Anacortes High School. The state matched with $3.2 million.
The AHS portion of the project included refiguring the school’s entry and administration areas, adding new labs, improving the cafeteria and modernizing the home/family life and career rooms.

Work was done at the middle school from May 1998 through January 2000.

In 1995, voters passed a $14.9 million, 20-year bond to renovate Fidalgo and Island View elementary schools and make other capital improvements. The state matched with $2.5 million.

Work was done at Fidalgo from April 1996 through October 1997 and at Island View from October 1996 through June 1998.
In 1990, voters passed a $7.7 million, 20-year bond to modernize Mount Erie Elementary School and to modernize the high school and the middle school.

Mount Erie was last renovated June 1991 through September 1992.

What’s been done to the high school before?
Voters passed a bond for what was called the “new” high school in the mid-1970s. Work started in 1974. On Feb. 13, 1977, the new high school was dedicated.

In 1998, a $7.7 million renovation project included reconfiguring the school’s entry and administration areas, remodeling and adding new labs, improving the cafeteria, modernizing the home/family life and careers room and adding a generator.

In 2001, the school’s vocational/technology wing received a light remodel with $339,000. Work included painting, tile replacement, carpeting, ceiling repair, lighting upgrades, window replacement, connection to the clock/bell system, ventilation improvement, landscaping and the addition of a greenhouse.

In 2004, a much-needed landscaping project was completed at the main entrance of Anacortes High School thanks to a $2,000 donation from Tesoro Refining and Marketing and the efforts of more than two dozen refinery employees.

Isn’t this just another patch?
The proposed renovations at the high school are not another patch. The proposed work is of similar magnitude to the work done in the 1990s to Fidalgo Elementary School, Island View Elementary School and Anacortes Middle School. Construction will use the positive attributes of the existing buildings to create a new modern building. District leaders say the proposed renovation will see the high school well into the future.

When would work start?
The district’s tentative construction timeline is aggressive. Plans are to have all construction complete within a three-year timeline.

The district plans to bid the Mount Erie site work in late spring with completion of the majority of the parking lot work this summer before school opens in September. The physical education building may be bid in February 2008 with completion by December that year.

The maintenance building may be bid in November with completion by September 2008.

Work on War Memorial Field may be bid in December with completion by October 2008. Football would not be affected by the proposed schedule. Rice Field may be bid in October with completion by June 2008. Track events will not be affected.

The Anacortes High School career and technical education wing is planned to be bid in April 2008 with completion by December that year. The main high school project may be bid in April 2008 with completion by May 2009. Temporary classroom plans are under review.

Tentative timelines were part of the budget planning so the district could include costs for temporary facilities for students during construction. A tight schedule was created to save money on construction inflation.

What will it cost me?
If the bond passes, the tax rate will increase 49 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $1.25 per $1,000 in 2008. It will cost the owner of a $300,000 home about $147 more each year.

My home value keeps going up. What does that mean for my tax bill?
Just because your assessment goes up a certain percentage doesn’t mean your tax bill will go up the same percentage. Between 2006 and 2007, the average assessment here increased 17.6 percent, according to the Skagit County Assessor’s Office. During that same time, the property tax rate decreased 13.6 percent due in large part to new construction. More people were sharing the load.

So, for a $300,000 home, the assessed value went up to $352,800. The tax rate went down from $9.769 per thousand to $8.4378 per thousand. So, the owner’s tax payment would increase $46.16, or about 1.6 percent, from $2,930.70 to $2,976.85.

In general, rising property taxes here come from governments taking the allowable 1 percent increase in collections on existing property, new taxes approved by voters (such as the library and hospital bonds) and value shifts within the county. With values in Anacortes often rising faster than those in other parts of the county, more of some parts of the property tax burden can shift here.

Check out the bond committee’s Web site at http://www.anacortesbond.com for help understanding how a school bond works. Click on the “How much will it cost?” option and then on “Learn about how school bonds work.” The Web site uses the example of three $250,000 homes in a district paying for a $1,000 school bond. The site goes over several different scenarios, such as changing house values and the addition of more houses in the district, and how they affect property taxes.

How long will I be paying?
The Anacortes School Board trimmed the length of the bond from the 20 years originally planned to 17.5 years. That saves about 12 percent in interest.

Is there tax relief for people on fixed incomes?
State law provides property tax benefits for senior citizens and disabled persons with annual incomes of $35,000 or less. Applicants must be age 61 on Dec. 31 of the filing year and the owner and occupant of a single family home, mobile home or one unit in a multi-unit housing. There is no age requirement for disabled persons.

There are three income and exemption provisions according to the Skagit County Assessor’s Office:

• Individuals with income of $25,000 or less are exempt from regular property taxes on valuation up to $60,000 or 60 percent of valuation, whichever is greater, plus 100 percent of excess levies. Excess levies are generally voted on as maintenance and operations levies or capital improvement bonds.

• Individuals with an income of $25,001 to $30,000 are exempt from regular property taxes on valuation up to $50,000 or 35 percent of valuation, whichever is greater, not to exceed $70,000, plus 100 percent of excess levies.

• Individuals with an income of $30,001 to $35,000 are exempt from 100 percent of excess levies. 

Seniors and disabled persons may also be eligible for property tax and special assessment deferral if they have an income of $40,000 or less.

The program postpones payment of your property taxes. The Department of Revenue pays the deferred property taxes and special assessments to the county. The amount of the postponed payment plus 8 percent becomes a lien in favor of the state.

Call (360) 336-9370 for more information.

Other Anacortes school bond articles:
Anacortes school bond would fund $23.9 million career and technology wing at high school
School bond would fund classrooms, stadium, and renovate high school library, Brodniak Hall
Synthetic turf would allow more field use at same cost, school leaders say
Bond would unsnarl traffic in Mount Erie Elementary School dropoff zone, build new gym
School bond would replace ‘woefully inadequate’ maintenance building
District asking voters to ‘protect our investment’
Inside the Anacortes school bond
Largest bond request in county history
School survey shows respondents favor same proposal
Anacortes School District’s $62.9 million bond goes to voters