On November 8th, Highline School District taxpayers will decide if they want to approve a 21-year school bond for $518,397,000. The primary intent of Proposition 1 is to rebuild the aging Tyee HS, Evergreen HS, and Pacific Middle School. The District cites Safety, Equity, and “keeping their promise” as the top reasons for the bond.
The District’s bond promotions, which include eight community meetings to date, digital ads, websites, mailers, flyers, voter pamphlets, etc. have all promised the voters that a yes vote would not cause our taxes to increase; it would simply replace expiring bonds. They’ve also stated that housing assessments are increasing, and the tax rate per $1000 would decrease from $4.40/$1000 assessed (2022) to $3.86/$1000 assessed (2023). So how will it affect YOUR taxes?
In an attempt to be transparent and show that our taxes will not increase, YesforHighline.org includes a link that uses data from the King County Assessor’s office. After you type in your address, you will see a quick overview of your taxes. Is it what you expected? Is the District Keeping its Promise to you?
Interestingly, on October 6th, the District quietly “updated” and reverted to the 2022 rate to $4.40, “reflecting a significant slowdown in the growth of property values.”
This is quite a significant modification! Did anyone inform the Superintendent or Directors before they promoted the bond in their Listening Sessions? Or did the volunteers who have been phone-calling and door-knocking for weeks receive this crucial information? Was there a notification to correct the full-color mailers which advertise “$3.86” and “no tax increases”?
Perhaps the Superintendent and Director Hagos will include this important update in their community Listening Session on November 1st (Mount Rainier HS 6:30-7:30 pm) and the Virtual Listening Session on November 3rd.
The promotions committee raised over $81,000 in marketing dollars from the community. According to YesforHighline.org, the top five donors are Danielle Tilden, Brad Tilden, Vanir Construction Management, Highline Education Association, and Highline Schools Foundation. As an informed voter, you may wish to examine who else donated. Here is the link.
$518 million plus interest over 21 years is a significant community-wide investment, so your due diligence is essential. New, safe schools for our kids is a terrific concept, but is this the time and the right plan? Again, check here to see how much your taxes will go up. You decide.
