Go Ahead, Vote “Yes” For Kids

For months, the undefeated WP Cardinals football players were the talk of the town, the pride of the community and role models for younger aspiring kids.

Their athletic adventure took them all the way from summer football camp to the state title game at the Tacoma Dome late last year.

In the same manner, the Prescott and Vista Hermosa communities went wild about their WP Tigers soccer team, which also won a state title and sent five players to the all-state team.

We now see a surge of community excitement around the Dayton Bulldog basketball players. They likely will go to state and could go far. They're all the talk on Facebook pages in the valley. Their globetrotting moves and victories have been so addicting to watch, many fans suffered serious withdrawals during the snowbound period when the team didn't play.

But these WP and Dayton sports programs and everything they mean to everyone in town have come with a price tag. These programs only exist because local voters, including many homeowners, agree every few years to tax themselves so the kids in town can continue to benefit from athletic and academic activities for which the state doesn't pay.

Voters are asked to do so again in the current election. Many residents have already received their ballots in the mail with the school levies as their centerpiece.

We encourage everyone to vote "yes."

Sure, things aren't easy right now. Many families are having a tough time making ends meet in the current economy.

But voting for the Dayton, Prescott and Waitsburg levies is the right thing to do for our kids and our towns. Here are some observations that will make voters' decision easier.

In the case of Dayton, which proposes a four-year maintenance and operations levy instead of the more typical two-year measure, 25 percent of its budget comes from levy funds. Of the $1.3 million in levy funds, 42 percent is used for materials, supplies and operating costs; 32 percent goes to pay administrators, teaching and support staff costs; and 26 percent is used for athletics activities, food services, curriculum adoptions and teaching supplies.

The district's $480,000 capital projects levy will be used to upgrade the school's classroom technology in a fast-changing IT market and to replace the bleachers in the Bulldogs' gymnasium.

Waitsburg has similar plans with the prospective proceeds from its two-year levy worth $882,000. It does not propose a capital project levy.

Most of these levies replace what's already in homeowners' property tax bills, so they should not notice a significant change when they get their tax statement starting in 2013 if the new levies are approved.

In Waitsburg, the levy amount is well below what the district is permitted to ask for under state law, and it's only 3 percent higher than the current levy. If approved, the district qualifies for levy equalization dollars from the state, which have been as high as 65 percent of the approved local M&O levy in the past.

In Dayton, the rate per $1,000 of the assessed home value goes up 1 cent to $2.33 in 2013 from $2.32 this year, but decreases to $2.26 by 2016. The district's technology upgrades cost 14 cents per $1,000 each year, while the bleachers project costs 32 cents per $1,000 for one year: the price of a latte for every $10,000 and the price of a subscription to the Times for every $100,000 in value. Of course, we're not suggesting you necessarily choose between those two. Both are of great value.

In Prescott, the district is asking voters to set aside $585,000 per year for two years to help supplement its budget. That translates into $2.32 per $1,000, a drop from the 2011-2012 levy amount of $2.60 per $1,000.

School levies have drawn strong support from local voters in the past: Waitsburg's 2010 levy got a thumbs up from 66 percent of the voters, while the last Dayton M&O levy that same year got a green light from 63.9 percent of voters.

We hope voters will come through again this time. If the letters to the editor in our paper are any indication, the prospects for a "yes" are looking good.

Go Cardinals, go Tigers, go Bulldogs!