Letter to the Editor: Defeat the Centralia School District Levy

Posted

It appears the Centralia School District, along with the Washington Education Association, is engaged in a well-funded campaign to convince the voters to approve additional levy property taxes. While I might normally be inclined to consider a further increase in my already high property taxes, there a number of reasons why I am going to vote “No” on this levy and encourage other voters to also vote no. 

First, I’m still very unhappy with the 24 percent salary increase recently given to teachers. Balance that against the 2 percent or 3 percent salary increase most workers got in the last few years. While a few hundred dollars added to my already high property taxes may not seem like much, for me it is the difference between being able to buy a new set of tires for my car or do much-needed maintenance for my house. 

I am also not happy about how the Washington Education Association gave the candidate running against then-School Board Director Jami Lund almost $90,000 to defeat him in the last school board election. I believe the WEA basically bought a position on the Centralia School Board with a director they knew would vote to impose additional property taxes on already financially stressed property owners. Given the high unemployment rates in Lewis County due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the uncertainty about whether local schools and businesses are even going to be able to fully open this fall or winter, it seems unwise to burden the citizens with additional taxes at this time. 

Until some of the uncertainties noted above are resolved, the voters should simply say “no” to this levy tax.



 

Donna Huntting

Centralia