SEE INSIDE: How to shoot the best outdoor pics | Page 3 . . . . Sumner recycling center not to reopen | Page 4 . . . . Runners from all area schools qualify for state | Page 12
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 | 75 cents
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School districts seek bond money | Part 2
What’s Inside
Outdoor Life.....................Page 3 Views...................................Page 8 Sports..................................Page 12 Obituaries..........................Page 10 Classified............................Page 23
This Week...
By Kevin Hanson
• The Department of Transportation is hold-
Senior Writer
Editor’s note: School districts are gearing up for ballot measures seeking hundreds of millions of dollars. In February, three area districts will be asking property owners to provide dollars to significantly upgrade their public facilities. Each is hoping to follow the lead of the Enumclaw School District, which had a proposal authorized a year ago. This week, we look at the proposal being floated by the small Carbonado School District. Last week’s issue covered the White River bond proposal; next up is an article about the Sumner School District request.
ing a blood and marrow drive on Saturday, Nov. 7, in honor of Washington State Patrol Trooper Renee Padgett. The drive will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the WSDOT Tacoma Maintenance Office. • Looking for a good meal? The Bonney Lake
Food Bank will host a food drive with the city’s new Denny’s on Monday, Nov. 16 from 6 to 11 a.m. For a $5 donation or three cans of food donated to the Bonney Lake Food Bank, donors will receive a free Slam Dunk meal.
Weather The forecast for Wednesday calls for a slight chance of rain with highs near 50. Lows at night drop to around 40. Thursday expects a higher chance of rain with a high near 51 and a low near 39. Friday, Saturday and Sunday all expect rain with highs in the low 50s and lows in the low 40s.
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Magley and her mother, Brittinee, brave the rainy weather to TrickSpirits high Monroe or-Treat in downtown Enumclaw. Upper right, Ginger Taylor and her father during soggy James and their dog, Hank, buzz around the city for Ginger’s first Halloween. Halloween Bottom right, a shark feels right at home in the wet weather. Photos by Dennis Box
Family files wrongful death suit after barrier collapse By Ray Still
have been at the forefront of several investigations since April. McGee Engineering, a construcA wrongful death suit has been tion company that was not fined by filed in the Pierce County Superior Labor and Industries, and the city Court in the state Route 410 con- of Bonney Lake are also defendants struction project in Bonney Lake in the wrongful death suit. that led to the deaths of Josh, The plaintiffs in the suit Vanessa and Hudson Ellis . are Zach Brown, the court The wrongful death suit appointed representative BONNEY was filed on Aug. 27, four of the estates of the fammonths after the family was ily and brother to Vanessa killed by a falling concrete Ellis, and Diane Hess who barrier on Angeline Road, is the mother of Vanessa. The and it brings to court all the parplaintiffs are filing for damages ties involved in the project. against all parties involved in the This includes construction com- construction project. panies WHH Nisqually Federal Highmark is the only company to Services, Highmark Concrete answer the suit so far, which it did Contractors, Staton Companies and Sept. 22. In its answer, Highmark Hamilton Construction/American Concrete Cutting, whose names SEE SUIT, PAGE 5 Reporter
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iming to put modern touches on a historic building, the Carbonado School District will be asking voters to approved a bond issue early next year. Sitting snugly inside the close-knit Carbonado community, the district has not gone after bond money for a generation. Unlike most districts, Carbonado has supported its operations – educating kids in kindergarten through eighth grade – with state funding and traditional maintenance and operation levies. But times have dramatically changed since 1986 when the
SEE BOND, PAGE 22
Enumclaw council to consider minimal property tax hike Public hearing on property tax scheduled for Nov. 9 City Council meeting By Kevin Hanson Senior Writer
Property taxes in Enumclaw will increase minimally in 2016, according to figures detailed in the city’s annual budgeting process. A memo from the city’s Finance Department indicates the owner of property – including land and home – valued at $300,000 can expect a yearly increase of about $10. Figures are all preliminary at this point, as the seven members of the Enumclaw City Council will not
finalize a 2016 municipal budget until their meeting of Dec. 8. As a starting point, cities throughout Washington with a population greater than 10,000, like Enumclaw, can bump their property tax rate in one of two ways – either by 1 percent or the amount of the Implicit Price Deflater of the previous year’s levy. Cities, by state code, are limited to the lesser of those two options. Looking at 2016, the IPD is .251 percent, so city administration is looking to dip into some of its “banked” levy capacity. Allowed a 1 percent increase each year, the city hasn’t always taken the full increase; when economic times were good, only part of the allowable increase was taken and the remainder was “banked” for another day. Starting with last year’s collection and adding the IPD and some banked capacity, then figuring in new construction in the city, the city administration has determined prop-
SEE TAX, PAGE 5
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