Wilmar School District asks voters for parcel tax

Voters in the Wilmar Union School District are again being asked to raise their property taxes to augment the district’s budget.|

Voters in the Wilmar Union School District are again being asked to raise their property taxes to augment the district’s budget.

The tax proposal, on the ballot as Measure I, comes a year after district voters rejected a $50 per year parcel tax for core academic programs and technology upgrades at Wilson Elementary, the only school in the district. This year’s measure would raise the tax to $75 per parcel, extending by nine years a parcel tax that voters originally approved in 2004.

It is expected to raise $79,500 annually toward books and technology in the classroom, keeping the library open, maintaining counseling services and protecting reading, writing, math and science programs, according to the measure’s backers.

“In reality, it’s about bringing more resources to the district,” said Eric Hoppes, superintendent of the district and principal of Wilson School. “The money supports better and more well-rounded education at Wilson School.”

Last year, the 1,900 registered voters in the mostly rural school district west of Petaluma rejected a parcel tax, which requires two-thirds voter support, with 61.9 percent voting for the measure. Before that, voters had been generous to the 240-student school.

The original parcel tax voters adopted in 2004 was $45 per year. By a 76 percent margin, voters in 2008 extended the tax by eight years and added $5. In 2012, voters approved $4 million in bonds, which the district used to upgrade security, rehabilitate a sewer line, build a new entryway and improve facilities at the 57-year-old school.

“Wilson has a special place in people’s hearts,” Hoppes said. “It’s a community, and we all have to pitch in and support it.”

Measure I, requiring a two-thirds vote to pass, will not provide money for building maintenance or administrative salaries, according to the proponents. Property owners 65 or older are exempt from paying the tax. There has been no public opposition to the measure.

Hoppes said that the district is projected to have a $68,700 deficit this year, and will continue deficit spending or be forced to make cuts unless voters pass the parcel tax.

“This funding source would help us keep programs in place,” he said. “We will certainly survive, but we’d like to be a thriving school. With this tax, we can take care of all of our kids’ needs.”

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)

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