PORT ANGELES —Is half a loaf better than none?
That’s what supporters of the Port Angeles School District’s upcoming 25-year high school bond and two-year school district levy proposals must contend with after the City Council’s refusal Tuesday to — as one body — endorse the proposals.
Council members individually said they would vote in favor of the issues that will be on the Feb. 10 special election ballot.
Their pledges followed impassioned pleas by supporters — and some opponents — who packed City Hall chambers.
So many attended that City Hall staff placed seats in the hallway to accommodate the overflow, which included patient children holding support-our-schools signs.
But council members were unwilling to put the matter up for a vote.
“As an elected representative of Port Angeles, I represent all the people of the city,” said Councilman Dan Gase, a Port Angeles High School graduate.
Some residents “are financially challenged to the point of being frightened,” he said.
“This feels like a rock and a hard place.”
Gase added: “I support this as a council member for the citizens of Port Angeles, but I’m not comfortable with making a formal council endorsement.”
The two-year maintenance-and-operations levy of $3.26 per $1,000 property valuation would replace the existing identical levy rate, which expires at the end of this year.
It would cost the owner of a $200,000 home an estimated $652 a year in 2016 and 2017.
A levy requires a simple majority for passage.
The maximum $98.3 million bond would cover replacement of the high school’s academic buildings, built in the early 1950s, and pay for refurbishment of the auditorium, or performing arts center.
The high school gym would stay as is.
A 60 percent majority is required for voter passage of a school bond issue.
In addition, there must be a 40 percent voter turnout based on the number of votes cast in the school district in the Nov. 4 general election.
Ballots will be mailed to registered voters Jan. 21.
Steve Methner, the head of the pro-levy Port Angeles Citizens for Education, had asked for the council’s endorsement during his presentation Tuesday night.
Methner had a positive takeaway as he reflected on the meeting Wednesday.
“What I want to say about it is that I am gratified they are on board,” he said.
“We are gratified that every council member fully expressed their support. . . .
“We have not had a meeting where people expressed their views in a large group setting like that.
“I really am taking it mostly as a really positive meeting and experience.”
Methner told council members the bond is supported by a medical community in dire need of more doctors as well as “dozens of business owners large and small.”
The high school buildings, opened in 1953, are too far gone to be renovated, he said.
Their replacement cost falls in the mid-range of cost for new high schools in rural areas such as Port Angeles in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, said Kelly Pearson, school district director of finance and operations.
Supporters at the meeting, who far outnumbered opponents, described classrooms and hallways with holes in the roof.
They talked of tap water made undrinkable because of rusted pipes, defective heaters so loud students cannot hear their teachers and buildings riddled with asbestos.
They described students forced to walk outside in wintry, rainy weather to go from class to class.
The bond would cost $2.06 per $1,000 of property tax valuation beginning in 2016.
The net bond-tax increase would be $1.60 per $1,000 after two current bonds are paid off in December.
For the owner of a $200,000 home, the net tax increase is estimated to be $320 a year, or $26.70 a month.
The bond also would cost an additional estimated $88 million in interest over the 25-year life of the measure.
Port Angeles Schools Superintendent Marc Jackson started things off at the council meeting by passing around decrepit piping from the high school to council members.
“We cannot put new technology into these old buildings,” he said.
“Unleash the energy these teachers have to take our students into the 20th century.”
But some at the meeting said it was not the City Council’s place to take a stand.
“As taxpayers, we can receive our ballots and make our decision,” said Dan Shotthafer.
Shelley Taylor said buildings have little to do with the quality of education.
“We have a courthouse that was built in 1914 that is still very much in use,” she said.
And Dick Pilling said more effort should be made to go after largely untapped state timber revenue.
“Why don’t we sell some timber for at least part of the funding?” he asked.
But most speakers expressed views similar to those of Jennifer Richards.
“Not many of us live in a home where we cannot drink the tap water,” she said.
“At some point, the building is important.
“We are probably a decade or so past that point at the high school.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.