BG budget receives levy boost
Brandy Slagle
Staff reporter
About 66 new employees will boost employment to almost 1,083 full-time equivalent staff under the proposed 2007-08 budget for the Battle Ground School District.
The $101 million budget will be balanced with the use of about $3 million in reserve funds.
Salaries and benefits are expected to total $74.5 million, up about $9 million for 2006-07.
School district officials estimate that enrollment will remain about the same in the upcoming school year.
Public comments on the budget are invited during a budget hearing set for Thurs., Aug. 23, 6 p.m. at the CASEE Center, 11104 N.E. 149th St., Brush Prairie.
The coming school year will be the second in a row in which the district will have a half-year of local levy funding. District residents are not paying a local levy this calendar year, but the district will collect levy money in 2008.
Mary Beth Lynn, director of fiscal services for Battle Ground Schools, was able to list some positive aspects of the annual budget.
It was something she said she had not been able to do for several years.
Most of these “positives” come from local levy funds, she said. In 2008, $4 million of levy funding will be funneled back into the school district’s general budget.
Levy funding will bring back seven assistant principals at each K-8 campus. Maple Grove Primary will get an assistant principal this year and an additional principal will be added to the Pleasant Valley campus, which are two schools that had been supervised by one principal.
Levy funds will also cover school repairs, maintenance and technical upgrades. It will bring full-time security staff to both high schools as well as reinstall school counselors and health room assistants. Text books for science and world language courses are also being updated in the curriculum adoption cycle that had been placed on hold after levy failure.
State salary schedules increased by 4.3 percent for the coming year compared to 3.3 last year.
Initiative 728 funding increased from $375 to $450 per student.
I-728 gives school districts funding for more teachers, and time and attention to children. Funding comes from the lottery and other revenues.
The school district has $101.1 million in expenditures and $97 million in revenues this year as compared to $89.9 million in expenditures and $88.5 million in revenues in the 2006-07 school year.
The district will begin the 2007-08 school year with approximately $6 million in reserve. The coming year budget will be balanced with the use of around $3 million from reserve accounts.
School officials estimated 2007-08 enrollment at 12,085, down from the actual enrollment number of 12,101 in 2006-07. The basic education allotment from the state will be $4,851 per student this year, up from $4,609 per student last year.
Kelly O’Brien, public information officer for Battle Ground Schools, said that the estimated enrollment does not include new students who are anticipated to enroll when school starts.
“It’s difficult to know what the numbers will be,” she said. “We are encouraging parents to register their children so we can know more.”
One challenge to the 2007-08 budget is transportation costs, which exceed state funding by about $2.5 million. Washington state will fund nearly $4 million in transportation costs this year, but expenditures are anticipated to be about $6.7 million. Last year the state funded almost $3.9 million of $6.4 million in transportation costs.
O’Brien attributed the increased costs of transportation to rising fuel expenses and bus routes to the new Daybreak schools. Transportation is funded in part from the district’s general fund.
However, Lynn said, the transportation funding formula is being reviewed by state legislature.
The district has about $62.7 in outstanding voted debt and $2.4 in non-voted debt, of which about $1.4 million was used for stadium renovations. The rest was used to install new heating and air condition in schools and funded an energy conservation project at Pleasant Valley. The district paid off about $800,000 of outstanding non-voted debt from last year.

Pope wants building lots near Swift Reservoir
 Pope Resources has announced plans to create 1,183 home sites of 20 acres each on its 24,000 acres of forest land surrounding Swift Reservoir in Skamania County.
Jon Rose, president of Olympia Property Group which is the real estate subsidiary of Pope Resources, said the action was taken to preserve the companies options in using the property.
The company had sought Skamania County approval to create an 800-homesite cluster development on about 15 percent of its land. Those lots would have ranged up to five acres each. Rose said the Skamania County planning commission deliberated about five minutes before turning down that plan.
Rose said the Skamania County commissioners are working on a growth management plan that would allow just 24 homes on the company’s 24,000 acres. He said the company must act to protect its rights.
But Skamania County commissioner Paul Pearce said the company has not followed the correct procedures in creating building lots.
Pearce said lots in Skamania County are created by deeds, and deeds require surveying. Pope Resources has not recorded deeds, said Pearce.
“They have given us maps of a proposal to create 20-acre lots,” said Pearce. “They have not recorded any deeds. They recorded maps of sections.”
Rose said his company will record deeds, even though the actions taken so far should be sufficient to create lots, he said. “We’re going to go ahead and record deeds,” said Rose. “We’ve got to do something to protect our interests,” he said.
Rose discounted Pearce’s claim that surveying was needed. He said the company would record one deed with numerous lots “to save paperwork.”
“We never wanted to do a 20-acre grid,” said Rose.
Pearce said the county has a building moratorium in place for the Swift area. Still, he said, the company could create parcels by surveying and recording deeds.
Rose said the county wants to virtually eliminate the possibility of developing property in the Swift area.
“Landowners, county officials and environmental organizations have been embroiled over balancing economic development initiatives with environmental protection since Skamania County proposed a wholesale downzone of lands in the Swift Reservoir area,” said Rose. “Under the county’s proposal, most of Pope Resources’ forest land would be left with little or no development potential.”
“This is primarily a defensive move on our part,” said Rose.
Rose said the company’s cluster development plan was crafted to eliminate development in sensitive areas adjacent to Pine Creek, a fish-bearing stream. “We are disappointed that the planning commission dismissed out of hand this proposal that called for nearly 400 fewer homes than allowed under current zoning,” said Rose.
“The only option left to us in the zoning code puts home sites over 100 percent of the property, irrespective of the impacts to environmentally sensitive lands, view sheds, or the efficient delivery of services,” said Rose.
“It remains our hope that the various stakeholders can come together to work out a compromise that allows for responsible economic development while protecting the environment,” added Rose.
Rose said the Skamania County commissioners have drawn a preferred alternative growth plan which will be considered by the county’s planning commission.
Pearce said the county is working to create a good comprehensive plan for the Swift area. He said he has not studied the company’s cluster plan. The cluster proposal was not included in recommendations made to the commissioners by the planning commission, said Pearce.
“We think Mount St. Helens is the world’s most scenic volcano,” said Rose. “We would love to energize people in Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties to create a scenic byway from Portland to Woodland, Swift, Carson, Camas and back,” he said. “These folks have an awesome opportunity to work on tourism together.”
Rose said the Mount St. Helens area is a four-seasons location, with hiking, fishing, boating, snow sports and Ape Cave. There are no services, however, he said.
Rose said his company will soon have parcel numbers on its 1,183 lots. Some might be sold in a year or two, he said, “one here, one there.”
“We can’t afford to wait,” said Rose. “This is less about posturing and more about preserving options. We still advocate for somebody to provide the leadership up there.”
Rose said the newly-created lots will be for recreation, with electricity only by propane generator and limited other services.
Another company--A&E--recently created 20-acre parcels on its 4,000 acres in the Swift area by recording deeds, said Pearce.
Pearce said the Swift Reservoir area has no roads, no power, no phone, no cell service, no infrastructure, and no county services. It is zoned “mountain recreational,” he said.
Pearce said access to the proposed lots is via U.S. Forest Service roads. He said the Forest Service could abandon those roads at any time, leaving the county with the responsibility of maintaining or improving the roads to serve taxpaying county property owners.
Pearce said that about 880,000 acres of Skamania County’s one million acres are owned by the federal government, but no timber production is taking place. Another 70,000 acres is own by the state, he said. Only about 3 percent of the land in the county can be developed, he said. The county’s 10,000 residents all live in the sound end of the county, he said.
Pope Resources owns about 11,000 acres on the south side of Swift Reservoir and 13,000 acres on the north side. The company owns or manages over 430,000 acres of timber land and development property in Washington and Oregon.

Battle Ground duck sticks around
Duck taken to farm pond, but returns to BG service station
Bill Myers
staff reporter
A female mallard duck at home at a Chevron service station on the corner of NW 13th Ave. and W Main St. in Battle Ground likes pavement and people.
“She showed up Sunday morning, August 12, snuggled down in a parking space at the station,” said Village Mart Chevron manager Daryl Payne. She said the duck launched a few friendly quacks at her and was not dismayed by vehicles or people.
When it became clear that the duck would not go away, Payne gave the duck some food and water. She set up a couple of signs to warn motorists to “Watch out for Duck.”
Now the duck is at home, making rounds in the neighborhood. Workers in the area say the duck can fly, but it seems content to walk from business to business, visiting workers or customers at the station, at Riverview Community Bank, 15 NW 13th Ave., and at Wells Fargo Bank, 1710 W Main St.
Riverview Community Bank manager Bonnie Franklin said the duck follows her and other people for short distances, even after eating. She laughingly said the duck has made a few deposits at a lawn in front of the bank.
Payne and Franklin believe the duck might have wandered in from a large field just north of their businesses. “Maybe it’s looking for its mate or babies,” said Payne. Franklin, Payne and other area workers worry that the fearless duck might walk into the path of a vehicle.
Then, on Aug. 16, a solution appeared to be in hand. A Riverview customer offered to take the duck to her farm pond in Salmon Creek. At about 1 p.m., Riverview employee Chris Hartley caught the duck by placing a large copy paper box over it. She put a lid on the box and placed it in the back seat of the bank customer’s car. The customer drove home with the duck.
The bank customer soon called to report that the duck had no interest in her pond and had flown away. Workers at, and near, the Chevron station heard the news of the duck’s refusal to stay at a Salmon Creek farm pond with guarded optimism. Most believed that the duck would now return to its natural habitat.
On the following morning, as sunlight erased the darkness of pre-dawn on the pavement at the Chevron station, the duck quacked a greeting to an early gas customer. It had returned.
No one has yet named the duck. “Maybe we’ll just call her Daisy,” said Franklin.
Ducks adjust to humans quickly
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife representative Brian Calkins said waterfowl acclimate quickly to humans, especially if fed. He said ducks have been known to nest in flower pots near backyard swimming pools. Calkins said ducks are migratory, and have a good sense of direction. It isn’t surprising that the duck found its way back to the service station, he said. Best advice? “Just let it alone,” said Calkins.

$81,481.05
That’s the total raised in the second annual North Clark County Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society held Aug. 18-19 at District Stadium in Battle Ground. That’s considerably more than the $50,000 raised last year. The “We Cancervive” team raised $7,033 to lead all teams in the event and retain its crown from the prior year. The Hunters Hope team
raised $6,157, From the Heart raised $4,456, and Second Floor Public Service raised $3,959. A group of cancer survivors walked around the stadium track as the event got underway Saturday morning. That group included Margaret Hill, 94, of Brush Prairie. A range of entertainment and special events kept spirits high even as light rain fell Saturday evening. In the “luminaria” feature, people purchased over 1,100 paper bags on which they wrote names of people lost to cancer or diagnosed with cancer. Those bags were illuminated with candles and placed around the track. Tracie Gorbet chaired the Relay for Life event which concluded about 10:30 a.m. Sunday.Photo by Gary Murtha