Voters in the Kent School District this past week are getting their first official look at the numbers for next February’s levy vote. The language was approved Nov. 18 by the school board.

According to the numbers provided by the district, the levy, if approved will collect $56 million in 2010 and increase by about $3 million per year, ending at $64 million in 2013.

The approximate levy rates for the proposed measure are: $3.16 per $1,000 assessed value in 2010, $3.28 per $1,000 in 2011, $3.30 per $1,000 in 2012 and $3.28 per $1,000 in 2013.

The money from the levy is used for many purposes, most importantly in making up the difference between what the district needs and what it gets from the state, including additional payment for teachers to increase salary and lower class sizes.

The levy pays for an estimated 18 to 20 percent of all district expenses.

In September, administration initially suggested a two-year levy, but soon changed back to a four-year levy because of the difficulty and cost involved in getting passage campaigns up and running every two years.

At the meeting, Finance Director John Knutson put forth to the board two proposals with different estimates for the assessed valuation of the district during the second half of the levy’s four-year term.

For the second option, approximately $1 million was added to the district’s total valuation, which would allow the district to collect additional funds.

“It decreases the risk that we would have levied less than the levy lid,” Knutson said.

Though assessed valuation of the district dropped 12.97 percent for 2009-2010, the district is predicting a smaller drop again next year and slight increases in the following years. The lower the assessed valuation, the higher the tax rate might be.

The levy proposed by the district represents a cap on the amount the district can collect, but the board can roll back the amount if the tax rate turns out to be too high and Knutson said the difficulty is striking a balance between asking for too much and asking for too little.

“The issue is if we hit it too high, it’s an outrageous tax burden,” he said. “If it’s too low … you have a situation where we levy less than that maximum so there’s money we could have collected but didn’t ask for.”

Knutson also said that estimates for this year proved to be too low, meaning the district missed out on collecting some funds for the schools.

In the meeting, the board selected the second option because it was worried about coming up short in the final two years.

“We don’t want to leave money on the table,” Chris Davies said, board vice president.

The levy vote is scheduled for Feb. 9, 2010.

The board also approved a second technology levy, designed to keep the funding for district’s technology programs at present levels once this current levy expires. It too will be on the February ballot.

The technology levy is set at $5 million each year and the estimated tax impact is $0.28 per $1,000 assessed value in the first two years, $0.27 per $1,000 in 2013 and $0.26 per $1,000 in 2014.

A difference between this year’s levy vote and the previous vote is a change to the percentage of yes votes needed for passage. In the past, a 60 percent vote was required, but a legislative change now means that a simple majority is all that will be necessary to pass the levy next year.

Board President Jim Berrios called the levy “extremely important” and said the district and the community have to work together as a team to ensure passage.

“If we don’t get it to pass we’d impact class sizes, among other things,” he said.

Proposed levy rates for the Feb. 9, 2010 levy vote:

Year Amount Estimated tax rate

2011 $56,100,000 $3.16 per $1,000 assessed value

2012 $59,500,000 $3.28 per $1,000 assessed value

2013 $62,000,000 $3.30 per $1,000 assessed value

2014 $64,000,000 $3.28 per $1,000 assessed value