The
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Islands’ eekly W Maintenance & Operations Levy Passes 2014 ELECTION Letters to the Editor
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Spotlight on Lopezians
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George Willis photo
Stewardship news
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Proposition 1 for the Replacement Educational M & O Levy concerning educational funding has passed with 797 votes, 71.93 percent of the votes. Voter turnout for the Feb. 11 election was 49.22 percent. The Lopez School Maintenance and
Operations Replacement Levy will replace the current levy that will expire at the end of 2014. The levy supports approximately one quarter of the district’s operating costs for educating the students of the community. Tax amount: $886,103 ($0.73/$1000) in 2015;
$896,036 ($0.73/$1000) in 2016; $922,917 ($0.75/$1000) in 2017, and $950,605 ($0.76/$1000) in 2018. The owner of a $400,000 home would see an annual increase of approximately $24 in 2015, over 2014 costs. The levy pays for: basic education (additional staff,
classroom materials, etc), athletics, arts, Farm-toSchool and food service, utilities, custodial, routine maintenance, special education, bilingual education, student transportation, and other school costs. The Replacement Levy funds will not go toward
VOLUME 37, NUMBER 7 • FEBRUARY 18, 2014
expenses such as those Lopez School proposed in a bond measure last spring, according to Superintendent Bill Evans.
These levy funds are for supporting the academic and day-to-day operations of the school, he added.
2014 ELECTION
Preserving farmland and open space bill By Rebecca Gourley
WNPA Olympia News Service
Lopez Center Accepting Bids Site Prep, Electrical and Paving for Storage Building
Visit www.lopezcenter.org for RFB. Bids due Feb. 28th Contact Shawn Westervelt with questions 360-375-6336 shawn@ascentbuildingco.com
All Members Art Show BENEFIT: Opening Reception:
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 5-7:00PM Art Sale Donations to benefit ‘Lopez Center for Community and the Arts’ and ‘LAG Scholarship/Grant Fund’. Exhibit runs through March 31st.
in the
A proposed change to a law aimed at preserving farmland and open space could result in higher taxes for some Washington property owners. House Bill 2306 would expand a tax classification on land actively used for agriculture, timber production or undeveloped open space. While property tax is generally assessed on the market value of a parcel, the state’s Open Space Taxation Act allows land to be taxed at a lower rate based on its current use, such as farming. Under the current law, if a
farming operation is 20 acres or more, the parcels must be contiguous in order to be eligible for the lower tax classification. The bill proposes to take out the “contiguous” stipulation, opening up this tax classification to farms that have multiple parcels that total 20 acres or more but aren’t necessarily touching each other. “It’s the preservation of farmland ... that is my ultimate goal,” Rep. Kristine Lytton, D-Anacortes, the bill’s primary sponsor, said at a Jan. 21 hearing before the House Finance Committee. Allen Rozema, executive director of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland, says the
bill could help preserve farmland and open space that is not currently eligible for the lower tax rate. “This is an innovative and unique approach to keeping agriculture viable in Washington state,” he said. “This approach and similar approaches need to continue to be pursued by the Legislature. It helps to elevate the preservation of farming to the same level as our state’s other critical resources.” Farming is an essential part of Washington’s economy. The Washington Department of Agriculture valued Washington’s agricultural production in 2012 at $9.89 billion, exceeding 2011 figures by 6 percent and setting a new record. Lytton said the bill is aimed at preserving farms with small, non-contiguous parcels. In Washington, the average farm size has decreased by about 12.5 percent from 2003 to 2012, but the num-
2014
This special section of The Journal, The Sounder, & The Weekly will be distributed to over 7500 readers throughout San Juan County and also online in our Green Editions!
Copy & Sales Deadline: Wednesday, February 19, 2014, 2 pm Publication Dates: Week of March 4, 2014 For more information call Cali Bagby at the Islands’ Weekly 376-4500
Rita won the Islands' Weekly "Senior Spotlight" column re-naming contest with her submission of
"Spotlight on Lopezians" Read "Spotlight on Lopezians" on page 3 of this issue!
ber of farms has increased by about 7 percent in the same time period, says a report from the United States Department of Agriculture. The number of small farms is still increasing, Rozema said. It’s hard to know how much of a tax shift could result from allowing more parcels to qualify for the lower tax rate, as there’s no estimate of exactly how much land could be eligible, says Yakima County Assessor Dave Cook. Some county assessors are concerned that extending the current-use tax rate to more land could mean higher tax bills for other property owners. Each county collects a specific amount of propertytax revenue, with the total amount spread across all taxable properties. When some properties are assessed at a lower rate, the other properties in the taxing district must make up the difference. Depending on how much property is eligible to be assessed at the lower agricultural rate, the increase in property taxes paid by others in the district could be significant. Cook says the legislation could result in a $70 million loss of assessed property value in Yakima County because more farmland would be assessed at its current use rather than market value. Property owners with a decrease in assessed property value will likely pay less in taxes, a difference that would have to be made up by other taxpayers in the county. “The tax-shift implications are significant when you go SEE FARMLAND, PAGE 6