The Lantern (the school’s winter edition) only tells part of the story about taxes. The total tax for schools is made up of the enrichment levy, the bond levy, and the State levy parts I and II.

The levy rates per thousand look like:

Enrichment $1.5000

Bond $2.5515

State part I $1.7492

State part II $0.6968

Total $6.4975

If you own a home with an assessed value of $300,000, you will pay $1,949.25 in taxes for La Conner schools during 2019.

The State tax part II is the new tax, called the McCleary solution, which is merely a tax shift. The other tax shift occurred with the Great Wolf decision, when the taxes that were formerly collected from Shelter Bay and Pull & Be Damned were loaded onto the non-Indian taxpayers in the La Conner School District. We have the Department of Revenue to blame for that.

The Swinomish contribute nothing toward the bond, yet the Swinomish people voted for it. I was glad to see that the Swinomish will contribute $660,000 to the school’s Operations & Maintenance spending this year. We are making progress!

Sincerely,

Dan O’Donnell