Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Capital levy mostly aimed at athletic facility improvements
REARDAN-The school district has a laundry list of capital improvements it hopes to complete in the next five years, most of which surround the athletic facilities slipping in quality behind many other area schools. Those improvements cost money, so the school board approved a motion to run a capital levy in this year's November general election at the board's July 27 meeting.
The five-year levy, which comes on top of a three-year levy passed by voters in Feb. 2021, would charge the taxpayers approximately $0.95 per $1,000. The total levy collection amount would be $4,192,050.
The levy passed last year charges taxpayers $2.00 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
Six projects that have been ranked according to priority would be funded by the new levy and an estimated $2,480,000 from the state.
Top on the list is replacing the lights on the athletic field, which blew out last year.
The football team will be playing on Friday afternoons or Saturdays without those lights, which are estimated to cost $280,000 to replace. The lights are at the top of the priority list with levy funds.
Second on the priority list would be building a new transportation cooperative facility for $3,525,050.
The district's current department is in a 1980 pole barn, and the state would fund up to a 90% match to build a cooperative with the Great Northern School District and "any other district that wanted to join," superintendent Eric Sobotta said.
Next would be building a new wrestling and fitness center for $288,000. Currently, the wrestlers practice in the local Community Center.
"Our wrestlers need to have a home and a prominent space," Sobotta said.
Building a rubberized track for $950,000 and reconstructing the tennis courts for $360,000 are fourth and fifth on the list of capital projects.
"We can't have a home track meet and have to have those in Davenport," Sobotta said. "Our tennis players have to go practice in Medical Lake because our tennis courts have been deemed unsafe for use. We need to have facilities that our kids in Reardan deserve."
Eventually, the tennis courts and wrestling room could be housed in a new indoor Fieldhouse, which Sobotta said would go where the tennis courts presently are located south of the elementary school. That would cost an estimated $1,269,000.
A taxpayer with a property valued at $300,000 could expect their property taxes to rise approximately $285 if the capital levy passes this fall.
But it's a tax increase vitally necessary for district students, Sobotta asserted.
"As a homeowner myself, I completely understand," he said. "But I'm going to be an advocate for our students...Our students deserve facilities that at least match others in our region."
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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