The shift of more than five dozen properties from the Ridgefield School District to the La Center School District has both superintendents heralding the move as a “win-win,” bringing district boundaries more in line with city limits.
The districts finalized the shift in January, according to La Center School District Superintendent Dave Holmes, though its effects wouldn’t be seen by taxpayers until 2019. The parcels in question are largely zoned for industrial or business uses, which would mean development would add assessed value to the district tax base.
Holmes said that all homeowners in the district would have their tax bill from the school drop 2 percent immediately with the parcel shift. Though the borders of La Center School District will expand, the number of students won’t increase based on the shift alone. Holmes commented how out of the 16 students who live in the shifted parcels, eight already attend La Center schools while the other eight will complete their education at Ridgefield.
“There was zero impact on our population growth in terms of housing students,” Holmes said.
“It was a direct impact on our taxpayers in a positive way, and it will be an even bigger impact as we go down the road.”
In total, 62 parcels were moved from Ridgefield to La Center to match up the school district’s boundaries with La Center the city, Holmes said. From Ridgefield’s side, they would be losing some of their tax base, but according to their superintendent Nathan McCann, it won’t be as significant as the change in La Center given the former’s nearly three times greater overall assessed value.
Both Holmes and McCann noted past animosity between the districts over school boundaries, with Holmes referencing how in 2006 La Center was looking at taking on all of the parcels included plus land to the west of the interstate junction. Now that the city limits extend out into the junction, taking on those parcels made more sense now than it did more than a decade ago, Holmes explained.
McCann said this request was “much more reasonable” in its scope and district officials were able to come to an agreement. He said one of the stipulations was that La Center could not take on any additional parcels from Ridgefield for 20 years.
“We thought it was a reasonable request, but we also thought we need some assurances of what the Ridgefield school boundaries will be from years to come,” McCann said. “Getting that 20-year agreement was very important.”
The shift also drummed up support from both La Center and Ridgefield city councils, which approved resolutions in favor of the change, McCann said. He added that even the Port of Ridgefield threw its support behind the development.
Compared to the squabbles over boundaries in the previous decade, the coordination between districts was a positive fix — “La Center and Ridgefield working together, not needing to go through a long, protracted legal battle, and coming up with a win-win that was good for everyone,” McCann said.
