JOYCE — With the first count of special election ballots, voters in the Joyce area have voiced approval for two levies to help fund the Crescent School District.
In the initial count Tuesday night, voters appeared to favor a four-year, $520,000 annual maintenance and operations levy by 471 yes votes, or 65.06 percent, to 253 votes against the levy, or 34.94 percent.
Voters also looked to approve a four-year, $100,000 annual capital improvements levy by 466 votes in favor, or 64.19 percent, to 260 votes against.
The next count of ballots will take place Friday, according to Clallam County Auditor Shoona Riggs.
“We’re all on cloud nine,” Crescent School District Superintendent Clayton Mork said Wednesday.
The initial results were a relief to district officials and volunteers who worked hard to see the levies through, Mork said.
The maintenance and operation levy will collect $520,000 annually for a total of $2,080,000 over four years. The renewed levy will cost taxpayers an estimated $1.69 per $1,000 of assessed property value — about $338 per year on a $200,000 house.
The current four-year maintenance and operation levy, approved by voters in 2011, expires at the end of this year.
About 15 percent of the $3.3 million Crescent School District operating budget is paid for using local tax dollars.
Maintenance and operations levies are used to pay for the school district’s library, counseling services, music program, curriculum materials, school nurse, food services, maintenance and equipment, utilities, fuel, data and tech support, employee benefits, business expenses and to reimburse out-of-pocket expenditures for teachers.
The district has said the 2017-20 replacement levy will add attention to educational technology equipment and support.
Currently, the school’s computers are 8 to 10 years old — purchased used from the Clallam Bay Corrections Center and refurbished by a part-time technical support person, Mork said.
Many of those computers would be replaced and the technical support person’s time at the school increased from three days a month to six days per month, he said.
The levy also will help expand classroom technology by using “smart boards,” which are combinations of computer, projector and white board, or a “Promethean screen,” an interactive touch-screen blackboard that eliminates the need for a projector.
A capital levy to repair and renovate district facilities, including buildings and walkways, will collect $100,000 annually for four years for a total of $400,000.
The 2017-20 capital levy will cost property owners 31 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value — about $62 per year on a $200,000 home.
A recent facility study and survey of Crescent School conducted by Erickson McGovern Architects found significant deficiencies and areas of deterioration, the district said.
Renovations should make the district school “structurally more sound,” Mork said.
The district Facilities and Finance Advisory Committee met in 2015 and prioritized the list of architect’s recommendations in the order of safety, security, public access and asset preservation.
The committee membership consisted of parents, community members and district staff and administration.
Over the next four years, the district will use the capital levy money to:
■ Install alert notification speakers and alarms.
■ Make pathways and access features safe and compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.
■ Replace all door handles and mechanisms to be ADA-compliant and to be able to be locked from inside the classroom.
■ Improve exterior lighting for parking lots.
■ Repair and refurbish shingled mansards with “Logger blue” metal roofing, and repair water-damaged soffits on school roofs.
■ Update the gym and high school restrooms for ADA compliance.
The renovations are estimated to cost $400,000.
None of the money raised from the two levies will be available until 2017, so some urgent projects — such as improved safety lighting in the parking lot — will be started as soon as possible by “borrowing” from the district contingency fund, to be replaced with levy funds, Mork said. The amount needed from the contingency fund has not yet been determined.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
