The Clallam Economic Development Corp.’s board supports the four school property tax levies on the upcoming Feb. 14 ballot — Sequim’s replacement and capital levies, Port Angeles’ replacement levy and the Quillayute Valley School District’s replacement levy.
Our EDC’s function is to support a strong Clallam County economy, and any good economy rests in large part on good schools, which are all in need of our financial support.
Therefore, we urge every voter in those three school districts to vote for these levies.
These are replacement levies, not additional levies.
The EDC also realizes that our state Legislature is considering how to provide appropriate financing for basic education, which we believe should include reducing the need for locally voted property tax levies.
The EDC believes that our school boards should be committed to reducing levy amounts when the Legislature provides the money to fulfill its constitutional duty to properly fund smaller class sizes and all the other components of basic education.
Let’s not make local taxing decisions without taking into consideration the aggregate weight of all taxing decisions on the family household budget.
Douglas Sellon,
Port Angeles
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sellon is interim executive director of the EDC.