WUSD may seek new parcel tax

Windsor voters may be asked to dig deeper in the coming year to
support local schools.
The Windsor Unified School District Board of Trustees is
considering putting a parcel tax measure on the ballot sometime
during the next year to raise money for its six schools. When they
will schedule the election, and how much they will ask for, will be
determined by a voter survey to be completed in May. The survey
will ask voters what school programs Windsor they are likely to
support and how large a parcel tax they would approve.
The district could, for example, seek a four-year $50 parcel tax
that would raise $286,850 annually for art and music programs.
“We need to reflect the will of the community,” said Sandy
Dobbins, president of the school board. “The fact is that if we
don’t bring the community with us, then it’s not going to
pass.”
Parcel tax elections require approval from 66.7 percent of the
voters in order to pass. District campaign consultant Connell Lindh
said achieving this level of approval can be a difficult task.
“If you’re going to have opposition it’s not worth going out for
a two-thirds election,” he said.
In last week’s primary election four Sonoma County school
districts placed parcel tax measures on the ballot. Two of the
measures passed.
One of the successful elections was run by the Petaluma
Elementary School District, which passed a $75 parcel tax by a 67.3
percent vote. Voters cast 8,454 votes. The measure won by about 50
votes.
“We knew it was going to be extremely close,” said Steve Bolman,
the district’s deputy superintendent of business and
administration. “We did have a survey in our community, and we
basically used the information from that survey to write our ballot
language. The community indicated that they wouldn’t support more
than $75 for four years. We took exactly what the poll indicated we
could get at two-thirds.”
The Old Adobe School District, a neighbor to the Petaluma
Elementary School District, failed with its parcel tax election.
Old Adobe received support from 60.6 percent of voters, about 390
votes short of passing.
“They (campaign consultants) said we had a chance but we were
going to have to work really hard,” said Old Adobe Superintendent
Diana Zimmerman. “It was worth the gamble. The big trick here is
having the parents know how important this is to their program,”
and how influential they are in their community.
In Windsor, Dobbins will look at the successes and failures of
the recent elections as she considers Windsor’s parcel tax
campaign. “We’re going to assess what went right and what went
wrong,” she said. “Lets learn from other people’s mistakes.”
According to Lindh, the district will need to address a number
of specific areas. “You really need to have a definition of the
needs of the district,” he said. “With the current budget
situation, you have lots of needs.”
Getting the word out to parents is also important. “Parents are
your most likely supporters and the least likely voters,” Lindh
said. “It’s inform, inform, inform. You have to make sure that they
are aware of the information.”
The last parcel tax election held in Windsor was for the Windsor
Fire Protection District. The ballot measure failed when only 55
percent of Windsor voters approved a $100 increase in the fire
department’s parcel tax.
The Healdsburg District Hospital, which includes Windsor in its
district, will be asking voters to approve a $65 parcel tax
increase in a special election next month.