Parcel tax terms OK’d by west Sonoma County school district to boost budget

A last-ditch bid to postpone the closure of either El Molino or Analy high schools by temporarily raising property taxes $1.2 million annually in west Sonoma County will go before voters in March.

Trustees for the West Sonoma County Union High School District voted unanimously Friday to place the tax hike on the March ballot. If passed, the property tax would stave off consolidation of the two high schools for another year or more.

The measure, which would increase property taxes by $48 a parcel, requires a two-thirds majority to pass and would expire after three years.

The tax would serve as bridge funding while district leaders continue to pursue a long-term resolution to the growing budget deficit at the school district, which serves about 1,900 students from the central Sonoma Coast to Sebastopol.

“It actually felt really good to get it done,” said Board President Jeanne Fernandes. "Now it’s just going to take somebody to decide that they’re going to run the parcel tax for us, and the community to get busy and hopefully get it passed so we can actually have some time to work on things.“

Forestville residents celebrated the decision to place the parcel tax on the ballot. Many pushed back against consolidation out of fears that El Molino High School, the smaller and more rural of the district’s main two high schools, would be the default to close.

“I am certainly happy to know that it is going forth,” said Gaylynne Sword, one of a group of El Molino parents who rallied against consolidation when district officials presented it in October as a possibility as soon as next school year.

“What I really hope can be communicated about the parcel tax is we are very much aware that this is not a permanent answer,” Sword said. “But it is very much intended to be a bridge to come up with a permanent answer that does not involve closing El Molino.”

Consolidation, while controversial, remains part of the discussion as the board and district administrators move through their budget process for the coming fiscal year. In a meeting four days earlier, the board laid out plans to cut costs if either the parcel tax or a tourism tax placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors does not pass.

The latter tax measure was championed by Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, a Forestville resident, who moved to give west Sonoma County schools a portion of the potential revenue from a tax hike on hotel and lodging accommodations. That tax, if passed, is expected to raise $2.7 million annually, $1.35 million of which would be available to schools in the western part of the county.

Both measures alone would help chip away at a projected $2 million budget deficit in the West Sonoma County Union High School District, which will only grow in coming years without either more revenue or fewer expenses.

On Monday, the board approved further exploration of a consolidation scenario that Fernandes referred to as a “placeholder” to satisfy state budget deadlines before the outcomes of the two tax measures are known.

“We need to be exploring all of these options,” said Kellie Noe, vice president of the board. “We need to have those backup plans in place.”

The consolidation scenario would combine El Molino and Analy students on the Sebastopol campus and move Laguna High School and the district office to the Forestville campus. Board members said that the plan was an alternative to preparing to lay off dozens of teachers in the event that voters reject the taxes and no additional revenue is provided.

“That’s by no means what we would like to see happen,” Fernandes said. “We just ask for a little patience from the community with us while we put into place this resolution.”

To mollify the families demanding more time, however, the board also established a timeline that ensures consolidation would be delayed if one or both of the tax measures is successful next spring.

If either one of the tax measures pass, consolidation would be pushed back until the 2022-23 school year, according to the resolution that passed on a 4-1 vote. Both measures passing would push consolidation back to the 2023-24 school year.

Trustee Ted Walker, who along with fellow trustee Diane Landry will be replaced later this month by new board members elected in November, voted against the timeline. He said he worried some parts of the resolution would tie the board’s hands to be able to consolidate if they found it necessary.

"My term ends in three or four weeks,“ he said. ”But I’m worried about the future of the district.“

In the coming months, community and board members will assume the work of pitching the benefits of both of the tax measures to residents in west Sonoma County. At a time when lodging operators and residents are experiencing the economic fallout from the pandemic, few expect the taxes to be an easy sell.

But some, like Sword, are optimistic.

“I’m hoping people are going to be empathetic, understanding and patient with us as we pursue what’s best for our community,” she said. “We just got to get at least one of these taxes passed. With the right messaging as to what it’s really about, I think our communities will rise to the occasion.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kaylee Tornay at 707-521-5250 or kaylee.tornay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ka_tornay.