Voters in two Spokane County communities asked to approve taxing measures | Washington

(The Center Square) – Voters in two separate communities within Spokane County will weigh in Nov. 8 on taxing measures to pay for infrastructure improvements.

Airway Heights residents are being asked to increase the amount paid on retail sales from two-tenths of 1% to three-tenths. The extra funds will be used to cover road safety projects to accommodate rapid population growth.

The increase is expected to raise about $935,000 per year, which will be used as a match for state and federal grants to improve east-west transportation systems.

Meanwhile, the East Valley School District is floating a four-year replacement, $18.5 million capital levy for safety and security upgrades.

The estimated rate of 75 cents per $1,000 proposed for the levy would go down if property values ​​continue to increase, say district officials.

If renewed, officials say the funding will be used to replace aging HVAC systems, leaking roofs and upgrade plumbing.

The district serves about 3,500 students across 100 square miles between Spokane and Idaho.

Under state law, local governments such as Airway Heights can establish transportation benefit districts and use either sales taxes or vehicle registration fees on road work that relieves congestion or otherwise improves public safety. The local city established its district in 2013 and has used funding from the tax to build pedestrian crossing improvements at Ninth Avenue and Hayford Road with money from the tax, as well as reconstruction of the roadway at Russell Street and Sprague Avenue, which serves as an access point to the Airway Heights Correctional Facility and a Spokane County off-road vehicle park.

Last year, the Legislature increased the cap to the amount now being sought by Airway Heights in the 2022 general election.

City officials are trying to accommodate an almost doubling of the population in the last decade. The 2020 Census reported the Airway Heights population as 6,100 residents, a number that had risen to 10,757 by the 2020 Census.

On the city’s list of potential projects to relieve congestion and provide alternative transportation are dedicated pedestrian and bicycle paths along US Highway 2, North and South Hayford roads and 12th Avenue.

If voters approve the proposition, the new tax takes effect Jan 1, 2024.

The East Valley levy seeks to replace an expiring levy that ran for two years. The extra funding from that and a prior levy has allowed the district to address safety issues, such as limiting access to building and classrooms, and to put in bus loops at schools that are separate from areas where parents pick up students. That change has kept traffic flowing more smoothly and reduce risks for pedestrians, say school officials.

If the levy is renewed again, the district plans to replace the leaky roof of East Valley Middle School that is 30 years old.

The district has also reported that the HVAC systems in several schools are so old that replacement parts are no longer manufactured, so regulating temperatures is difficult.

As a result, the gym and locker rooms at East Valley High School were locked and unusable for months last year when the HVAC system failed during the winter, leaving that portion of the building without heat.

The levy would collect $4.2 million in 2023, $4.5 million in 2024, $4.7 million in 2025 and $4.9 million in 2026.

Ballots for each measure will be mailed to affected voters in Spokane County beginning Oct. 19