School levy elections are Tuesday

Four area school districts are holding levy elections Tuesday.

As of Friday afternoon, Kootenai County Clerk Jennifer Locke reported 1,694 early votes had been received by the Kootenai County Elections office. For the school levy elections in March 2021, 918 early votes were received at this time leading up to election day.

Locke reported 5,221 absentee ballots had been requested and 3,867 had been returned as of Friday afternoon. In March 2021, the office sent 4,953 absentee ballots to Kootenai County residents and 4,443 were returned.

"The last few years our turnout has been pretty good," Locke said Thursday.

The elections office conducted logic and accuracy testing of its three tabulation machines Wednesday and Friday — twice due to a frayed wire on one machine.

“We also run our logic and accuracy test through again on election morning before we count any ballots and after we’ve counted all ballots we run it through again to make sure it’s reading the same every time,” elections manager Asa Gray said. “We did a pre-test just to make sure everything was reading properly and that was well over a couple hundred ballots.”

Kootenai County Commissioner Bruce Mattare was in attendance at the Friday testing to ensure everything was up and running well.

“It’s just important we make sure the machines are running properly. Election integrity exists by doing those kinds of things,” he said. “It’s part of the check and balance of making sure we have good elections, fair and honest elections.”

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters can register and vote at the same time using photo ID and proof of residency dated Feb. 11 or earlier.

Visit kcgov.us for polling places.

COEUR d'ALENE

The Coeur d'Alene School District, which serves about 10,000 students in Coeur d'Alene, Fernan Lake Village, Dalton Gardens, Hayden and Hayden Lake, will ask constituents to vote on two measures — a $25 million-per-year perpetual supplemental levy and a $5 million-per-year, five-year safety and maintenance levy.

The supplemental levy has been approved by Coeur d'Alene voters since 1986. It provides 25% of the district's operating budget and pays for programming, extracurricular activities, compensation for salaried and hourly-wage employees, textbooks and more.

A few specific examples of what Coeur d'Alene's supplemental levy funds cover:

• $1.28 million — Athletics and extracurriculars

• $1.655 million — Safety and security: School resource officers, staffing, services and supplies

• $1.189 million — School nurses and mental health support

• $2.82 million — Classroom and school resources, such as teacher supplies, libraries and special education services

• $3.35 million — Elective, enrichment and career technical education

• $7.21 million — Salaried and hourly-wage employee compensation

Supplemental Levy Rate

The proposed $25 million supplemental levy replaces an existing $20 million two-year supplemental levy that expires June 30 and that currently costs $76.17 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. If the proposed supplemental levy is approved, the tax is expected to increase by $19.04 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value for the first year, or 19 cents per $1,000.

Safety and Maintenance Levy Rate

The estimated average annual cost to the property taxpayer is $19.04 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, per year, based on current conditions. (This is about 19 cents per $1,000.) This levy would expire after five years.

POST FALLS

The Post Falls School District serves around 6,000 students in Post Falls, Huetter, Stateline and a southwestern area of Coeur d'Alene south of the Spokane River.

Post Falls is putting before voters a levy request of $5,958,551 per year for two years, to renew the district's existing $4.955 million per year supplemental levy that expires at the end of the school year, with an increase of just more than $1 million to fund school safety.

A few examples of what this levy covers:

• Renewal of funding for existing school resource officers and one additional officer as well as campus security expenses

• Kootenai Technical Education Campus (KTEC) programming

• Staffing

• Athletics, extracurriculars and student activities

• School security infrastructure upgrades

• Renewal of funding for salaries for teachers and support staff, such as bus drivers, paraprofessionals, custodians and other student support staff

• Renewal of funding for maintenance of schools

Levy rate: Considering the increasing assessed values and the requested levy increase of $1,003,551, average Post Falls residents are not expected to experience an increase in school district taxes. This is possible because of the growth the city has experienced. The estimated average annual cost to the taxpayer would be $60.25 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, based on current conditions.

LAKELAND

The Lakeland Joint School District, which serves more than 4,700 students in Rathdrum, Spirit Lake, Athol, Garwood and Twin Lakes, is asking residents to vote on two levy requests — a two-year, $9.52 million-per-year supplemental levy that will replace the current levy of the same amount that expires at the end of the school year and a $1.146 million-per-year, six-year school plant facilities levy.

Lakeland's supplemental levy will pay for:

• New curriculum

• Safety

• All athletics and extracurricular activities

If approved, this levy will cost taxpayers $106.20 per year per $100,000 of taxable assessed property.

Funds from the plant facilities levy will pay for capital projects, technology, equipment and the purchase of vehicles. These funds cannot be used to pay for staff compensation.

For 2024, if this levy is approved, taxpayers would pay $12.78 per year or $1.07 per month per $100,000 in taxable property.

KOOTENAI

The Kootenai Joint School District serves more than 200 students in Harrison. It is putting before voters a two-year, $1.373 million-per-year supplemental levy request.

The proposed supplemental levy will replace the district's current levy, which expires June 30.

Funds will cover:

• $87,000 — Athletics

• $95,000 — School resource officer and security

• $200,000 — Special education

• $250,000 — Building Maintenance

• $90,000 — Career technical education classes

• $651,000 — Salaries and benefits for certified and classified staff

The estimated average annual cost to taxpayers if this levy is approved is an annual $93 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value based on current conditions. The current levy costs $49 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. If approved, the tax is expected to increase by $44 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value.

This article has been updated to reflect 2023 Post Falls School District levy information.