Vote no on levy
Slam on the brakes.
This whopping $52 million Port Angeles School levy is a tax train wreck.
Property assessed at $300,000 will pay an additional $786 per year increase.
That’s $2.62 per $1,000.
This unaffordable and unnecessary tax hike will hit everyone, renters, businesses, folks on fixed income, and many just living on the edge.
One of the levy’s purposes, moving sixth graders to Stevens, is ill-conceived.
Student enrollment is stagnant.
No definitive study supports sixth graders’ benefits when placed in middle schools.
Your home’s condition?
Demolish your home because it needs a new heating system, plumbing, roof, or electrical renovations?
Who’s responsible for school renovations and repair?
Maintained and renovated structures remain serviceable from one century into the next.
Fortunately, smarter, modern, high-tech, much less costly solutions exist without this enormous 175 percent hike.
This $52 million proposal’s stratospheric $524 cost per square foot is compared to an approximate 35 percent savings for modular or other designs seen at www.frogfivebuildings.com or www.whitleyman.com.
School directors need to consider new ideas and reject 10-year old committee plans voters vetoed twice as just too expensive.
Knowledgeable citizens touring Stevens say it’s in good condition, just needing normal basic systems renovations.
Tom Carver, Washington’s Superintendent Office of Public Instruction facilities administrator, told my wife, Susan Shotthafer sometimeago that remodeling always costs less than new construction.
Go to www.stoppaschooltax.com for the truth.
A simple majority approval can pass this levy.
Vote common sense.
Please vote no
Daniel Shotthafer
Port Angeles