Editor,

I received my ballot for the Feb. 8 election on the same day that I got the Jan. 19 paper, and the article on the proposed school levies gives very misleading information about the true cost to taxpayers. For Coupeville, assuming a $500,000 house, the article says that the three levies combined would cost less than $200 per year. But my ballot tells a different story.

Let’s dig into the details. The article says that the operations levy would cost a taxpayer “around $5.75 a year.” But my ballot indicates that the operations levy will cost $0.876 / $1k of assessed value or $438 for the first year. The article says that the technology levy would cost “$18.88 per year,” but my ballot shows a rate of $0.158 / $1k or $79 for the first year. Similarly, the article says the capital projects levy would come to $169.50, but my ballot shows a rate of $1.051 / $1k or $525.50 for the first year. The rates on my ballot show this comes to a total of $1,042.50 per year, not the less than $200 that the article implied.

Perhaps the article was referring to how much more the average homeowner will be paying compared to last year, but that’s not what it said —and even if that’s the case, it’s still over a 20% increase from last year.

Voters should clearly understand: We’re voting to approve over $1,000 per homeowner per year of school taxes. Coupeville schools have seen their revenue grow by 80% over the last 10 years (about $9.4 million in 2011-2012 to nearly $17 million in 2021-2022) to educate about the same number of students as 10 years ago.

Have you seen your income increase by 80% over the last decade, or are our school budgets on an unsustainable trajectory?

David Mahaffy

Coupeville

Editor’s note: In the story, Coupeville Superintendent Steve King was referring to the change in how much homeowners will pay if the levies are adopted. The story has been corrected.