Levy FAQ

Levies provide local funding that bridges the gap between what the state and federal funding provided to districts to operate schools and the actual costs of operating a school district. Yet, in addition to supplementing day-to-day operational costs, the levy also provides funding for a number of valued programs and people. In fact, ALL of the district's athletics, activities, and performing arts programs are funded by levy dollars.

 

The EPO Levy makes up about 13.5% of the district's total operating revenue.

 

CVSD has had a voter-approved EPO Levy in place for more than 50 years. 

 

Find all the details on our Future Plans page. 

The estimated Capital Improvements tax rate would be $.39 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

 

For a median home value of $400,000 in CVSD that equals $156 per year or $13 per month.

 

This six-year levy provides district-wide safety, facility and technology improvements to support learning environments.

 

The tax rate for the Construction Bonds is currently $1.08 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, but will be lowered to $0.99/1,000 in 2025.

 

For a median home value of $400,000 in CVSD that equals $396 per year or $33 per month.

The estimated tax rate for both the EPO Replacement Levy and Capital Improvements Levy would be $2.79 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. For a median home value of $400,000 in CVSD that equals $1,116 per year or $93 per month. With the Bond, the total will be $2.99/$1,000 of assessed valuation. For the median home value of $400,000 equals $1,196 per year or $99.67 per month.

 

The entire amount to CVSD for the EPO Replacement Levy, Capital Improvements Levy, and the remainder of the voter-approved 2015 and 2018 construction bonds ($0.99/1,000) would be $3.78 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. For a median home value of $400,000 in CVSD that equals $1,512 per year or $126 per month. 

 

 

 

Your current taxes and distribution are listed on the Spokane County Assessor's office, simply type in your parcel number. 

Property taxes apply to all property types, including condos, apartments and businesses. It is the property owner that pays the levy, based on the per thousand dollars of assessed value.  

EPO Levies

Capital Improvement Levies

Bonds 

Considering the outdated lighting system in place currently, the bulbs are both rare and, consequently, costly. Implementing a new lighting system would address this issue, bringing about more cost-effective maintenance. The use of modern LED bulbs and fixtures proves to be highly efficient, requiring minimal electricity and enabling our students to utilize the fields more frequently, all while keeping electricity costs at a minimum.

We looked into the “Chromebooks for Education” leasing option of $20/month/per device. Although we have not bid for these items yet, this is the closest apples to apples comparison estimate that we can provide at this time as to purchasing rather than leasing. It would cost about $315,420 per month to lease (at $20 per device/month) or $3,785,040 annually for the 15,771 devices that we estimate over the capital levy years. This is a cost of $18,925,200 over a 5-year refresh cycle. We should be able to purchase that same number of devices for a one-time cost of about $4,731,300, which is significantly less than the leasing option. However, we are always open to options the reduce the cost for our student devices and any others.

 

There are grants that we have explored, but typically our district does not qualify for any of these grants based on our “free and reduced” percentages. We do purchase Chromebooks and use them almost exclusively as student devices in the district as they are a great value and provide the tools that are necessary for students to be successful in the classroom. When we purchase the devices, we leverage the buying power of a state-vetted contract, so that we know we are getting the best possible price for the devices. We also try to align our purchase cycles, so that we can make volume purchases, which typically allows the district to negotiate better pricing in addition to the negotiated contract pricing.

We have a history of reporting updates back to our community. Accountability to our community is an important value for our district. Any updates will be posted here: www.cvsd.org/futureplans

 

Here are some examples of our reporting. All 2015 construction bond and 2018 construction bond projects were completed on time and either on or under budget. By leveraging every possible dollar, the district and CVSD School Board completed 10 additional construction projects than what was originally promised to the Central Valley community—with no additional taxpayer dollars. The documents within the 2015 and 2018 bond web pages linked above indicate what projects to which the additional dollars were allocated; i.e. Riverbend Elementary and additional expansion, North Pines Middle School, phase 3 of Spokane Valley Tech, Central Valley Virtual Learning, Horizon Middle School Tennis Courts, the synthetic turf at CVHS/RHS/UHS, and HVAC at CVHS.

 

Additionally, we report about expenditures publicly in our reports and updates to the CVSD School Board, here is an example of the most recent report to the board on construction projects and expenditures. You may find all of the reports by searching on our public documents.