New Calculation Drops Toledo School Bond Rate to 76 Cents Per $1K of Assessed Value

Toledo school bond supporters received good news this week — the bond dropped 23 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value from previous estimates.

“We just certified values late last night, so they are new in our system,” said Lewis County Assessor Dianne Dorey Wednesday. “As I was driving down here … I called my levy clerk and I said ‘can you work out what the new Toledo numbers are?’”

Dorey announced at a Toledo Senior Center presentation that the price of the Toledo School District’s proposed $7 million bond dropped to $0.76 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Previously, the rate was estimated at $0.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

The reason the numbers dropped, Dorey said, was because the total assessed property value in the district went up. 

Dorey made the announcement at the Toledo Senior Center on Wednesday afternoon in a joint presentation with ToledoTel Chief Operating Officer Dale Merten.

Dorey said seniors may qualify for exemptions, if they apply at the assessor’s office before Dec. 31. People must be older than 61 and make no more than $40,000 per year.

 Merten has been an avid supporter of the $7 million bond. He is the chairman of both the Bond Committee and the Design Committee. Neither is officially part of the Toledo School District.

Merten noted that the money from the bond is only to build a new high school. It cannot be used for any other purpose.

“No track, no bathrooms for the football stadium,” he said. “... It’s only for the new school.”

The joint presentation was to explain exemptions to the seniors and clarify questions regarding the bond.

The $7 million bond will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. It is a 21-year bond that would cost taxpayers roughly $0.76 per $1,000 of assessed property value (or $76 per year if you own a $100,000 home). Bonds require a supermajority, or 60 percent vote to pass in the state of Washington.

If Toledo voters approve the $7 million bond measure for a new high school, the state will provide the district with an additional $18 million in funding. In total, the district will have a $25 million budget to construct a completely new high school.

The funding from the state comes from a $10 million distressed schools grant and $8 million in School Construction Assistance Program (SCAP) funding. State Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama and State Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis worked to secure the funds on behalf of the district.

Dorey estimated that her office has received more than 100 phone calls over the last few months regarding the $7 Toledo school bond, and how it would affect taxpayers in the school district.

“It affects a lot of people,” Dorey said. “It’s not only the people who live here that pay this. It’s the timber companies and what it means to them and the people that own property that are absentee owners.”

One of the consistent arguments against the $7 million proposed bond measure is that consolidation with the Winlock School District would be cheaper for voters. Dorey said that is not the case.

“Toledo would no longer have a levy, but Winlock does,” Dorey said. “Everybody that belongs to that school district has to pay for their bond and their levy, similar to what happened in Vader when Castle Rock was taking over the school.” 

In 2007, the Castle Rock School District absorbed the Vader School District after various failed levy and bond measures. Part of the Castle Rock School District now rests in Lewis County.

“They were voting on a $2.12 per $1,000 levy to continue the Vader school on and said no,” Dorey said. “They thought that their levy would go away then and they wouldn’t have to pay anything anymore to schools because they don’t have a school.” 

Dorey said that everybody in the state belongs to a school district.

“So then Vader was dissolved and Castle Rock became their school district,” she said. “They had to pay the levy rate of $4.23 instead, which is what all the Castle Rock voters had voted on.”

Merten noted that he believes that more people will continue moving to Toledo, which will positively affect taxpayers.

“The newly calculated rate for the bond is $0.76, but there are currently 41 new houses under construction in the school district area that haven’t been completed yet,” Merten said. “So those have not hit the tax rolls. These houses range anywhere from $250,000 to upwards of over $1 million. There are some very nice homes being built. I see that as a trend that is going to continue for the next two to three years.”