Ridgefield is Washington state’s fasting growing city, with a 65 percent population growth from 2010 to 2017. There are approximately 1,000 new single family lots currently in development in the city and a population of 25,000 residents by 2035 is forecasted. Nowhere is that growth more evident than in Ridgefield schools, where enrollment has increased 39 percent in the last three years and expected to increase 47 percent over the next four years.
The City of Ridgefield and the Ridgefield School District have taken fiscally responsible approaches in planning for this growth. The city currently assesses the highest school impact fees on new residential construction in the county and the sixth highest in Washington. The builder of each newly constructed home pays over $7,100 in school impact fees.
The school district began a multi-phase process in 2012, with a bond that funded new buildings at both elementary schools and much needed improvements to all schools. The second phase was a 2017 bond that built two new schools at the fifth – eighth grade campus, expanded the high school and repurposed the former middle school as the Ridgefield Administrative and Civic Center. The prior bond projects came in on time and under budget, while the district’s tax rate remained one of the lowest in Clark County.
The next phase is the $77 million bond on the February ballot, which will leverage more than $15 million in additional state funding, which with the addition of school impact fee revenue, will finance an infrastructure improvement project of nearly $100 million. It will: build a new K-4 elementary school to reduce overcrowding; build an additional classroom wing at the high school; secure entry points with new security cameras and locking systems, an unfortunate necessity in modern times; update student access to modern STEM programs; update existing vocational training spaces.
Despite all of the benefits that will be received from the passage of the February bond, it will only raise Ridgefield School District’s tax rate by 9 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a home valued at $450,000, that amounts to $3.38 a month, less than the cost of a Grande Latte at Starbucks. For most of us, our greatest asset is our home. The location of our homes, specifically in a premier school district, is one of the main factors that affect its value. This small increase in the tax rate is a small investment with big returns on the value of our homes.
Ridgefield School District, under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Nathan McCann and with a strong school board and active citizens’ advisory committee, continues to be an excellent steward of the investments made by the district’s taxpayers. In order for the district to continue to provide a premier education to our children at a low cost, please join me in voting, “yes” in February for Ridgefield schools.
