As ballots arrive in mailboxes this week for the Tahoma School District’s construction bond measure, officials are working hard to get information out to voters, as the April 26 election looms.

Kevin Patterson, the district’s spokesman, said the board of directors and administrative staff understand why there may be folks who live in the Tahoma boundaries that are concerned about the bond measure.

In particular there are those who don’t have children in the district, he said, that aren’t sure they should have to pay more taxes.

“What we’re telling them is this is a community issue,” Patterson said. “The quality of education in the Tahoma School District affects the rest of the community regardless of whether the individual tax payer has kids in the school district.”

The district is seeking approval of a $125 million bond measure that would pay for a number of projects including building a new Lake Wilderness Elementary, a fifth elementary school, additional classroom space at Tahoma High, an auditorium that would be used as a lecture hall and performing arts space and  significant maintenance at a number of buildings in the school district among other projects.

“This is a young community, the city of Maple Valley, if you look at the demographics,” Patterson said. “We have a lot of young families in this community. We think it’s important to maintain strong schools because we think that contributes to a strong community.”

If the bond is approved, according to information provided by the school district, Tahoma is eligible for $26.4 million matching funds from the state school construction fund but it is unclear if that money will be available to the district due to a state budget crunch.

The average tax rate for 2012 through 2016, based on current conditions, would be $1.41 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. This would translate to $33 a month or $423 per year for someone with a home valued at $300,000.

“People are rightly concerned that this is going to cost them more money that what they’re currently paying for schools,” Patterson said. “We want people to understand that this is not something we are doing lightly. We wouldn’t be coming to the community with this bond measure unless we absolutely needed it.”

Tahoma last ran a successful bond measure in 1997. It paid for a number of projects with the dollars raised in property taxes and state matching grants stretched over nine years. The district has since had two unsuccessful construction bond measures, the first in 2001, the second in 2004.

The 2001 bond would have been for about $10 million and paid for renovation of athletic fields and construction of a performing arts center at Tahoma High. The 2004 measure would have been enough to pay for only the second project.

Patterson said that it is important for voters to understand that the board of directors approved the amount that is being asked for after more than two years of study by a citizens advisory committee. The board has also put off a construction bond measure election twice since it first began considering it due to economic circumstances among other things.

If the bond fails, he said, the board does not have plans to come back with a smaller bond measure.

Instead, Tahoma officials will look at other alternatives, such as using double shift or year round track schedules.

“People are equating our need for more seats for students with growth management,” Patterson said. “Our focus is finding ways to meet the needs of young people in this community. This is not a threat (to use alternative schedules). This is the reality we face when we can’t add facilities. That means we have to change schedules.”

Currently, Tahoma Junior High is about 200 students over capacity, Patterson said.

Part of the reason behind the timing is that district officials see a short-term lull in growth in the near future, so, getting the construction bond approved now would allow the district to get projects completed before the next wave of the anticipated additional 1,700 students start arriving.

“We want to be able to take advantage of that little lull we’re experiencing in growth before we think it’s going to start rapidly increasing,” Patterson said. “It’s also a good bidding climate. I think we can stretch our dollars. I think we’re going to get a lot more bidders than we would normally see.”

If the measure passes, Patterson explained, elementary school projects would come first. A new Lake Wilderness Elementary and an unnamed fifth elementary would be built while other elementary schools in the district would get new roofs, siding or other needed maintenance work done.

That would start in 2012 with completion on the new elementary schools expected in the fall of 2013. Then in 2014 work would start on the junior high followed by the high school in 2015.

Patterson said for those over 60 who are concerned about how the tax increase would impact them, the King County Assessor’s Office has a senior citizen exemption program that would help with relief for affected homeowners.

More information can be found on the county assessor’s website at http://www.kingcounty.gov/sites/Assessor/TaxpayerAssistance/TaxRelief.aspx

More information on the district’s construction bond measure can be found on the Voice of Tahoma Education committee’s website www.tahomavote.org.