FORKS — A good deal of money is riding on the Quillayute Valley School District levy election — more, in fact, than the $570,000 the school district would collect from property owners starting next year.

“If we pass our levy, the state will provide additional levy equalization funds for our district,” said Frank Walter, superintendent for the school district based in Forks.

“Passing the levy will leverage an additional $595,677 per year in levy equalization revenue from the state.

“This is so huge for our district, because the levy equalization funds actually exceed the amount of the levy.”

Ballots in the all-mail election are distributed to registered voters in the school district on Wednesday.

Voters have until Feb. 8 to mail them back to the Clallam County Auditor’s Office, or drop them in one of two drop locations — in Forks or Port Angeles.

Voters are being asked to approve a replacement maintenance and operations levy that would last four years — instead of the current two years — beginning in 2006.

The current levy expires this year.

Switching to a four-year levy would create a series of improvements, said Walter.

“It allows us to do longer range financial planning, and it fixes the cost to voters over a long time range,” Walter said.

“It also saves us the cost of an additional special election.”

Holding a levy election costs the school district about $8,000, he said.

Rate rises

If approved by a 60 percent “supermajority” of voters, the latest levy would collect $2.8 million over four years while increasing property tax bills 18 cents per every $1,000 dollars of assessed property value.

For a $100,000 home, that would translate into about $18 in increased taxes per year beyond what a homeowner now pays.

Frank said the new maintenance and operations, or M&O, levy would fund the maintenance of school buildings, kindergarten classes, all athletic and extracurricular activities, the district’s technology plan implementation, special education costs not covered by the state, professional development for teachers, and other programs.

He also said it will help the district meet rising costs.