The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1922-04-06
TO VOTE ON SCHOOL
BONDS SATURDAY
District Will Ballot on Change of
$4,000 Debt From Warrants
To Longer Time Paper

0Ou OF its school district lndeDt-
edness from the form of warrants
into bonds. If carried. the tax
payers would be given twenty
years to reduce the Indebtedness.
which is now at a point where
the directors have been notified
by the state to reduce through
private subscription or bond
issue. increase taxes for the next
few years to a high enough point
to pay off the old debt, or close
the high school.
That the district cannot create
further Indebtedness over the
current revenues, is the state
ment made by Sam Barrett, coun-
ty auditor, in the following letter
addressed to the Lynden Board:
Can't Create More Debt
You have asked this office
for a statement as to what eff
feet it would have on the mat
ter of the members of the school
board, either those now members
or those who may be elected in
the future. creating further debt,
in other words should your dis
trict vote in favor of funding
SIS, 100000 outstanding warrants
and issuing bonds therefor, would
this give any board the oppor-
tunity to create further debt sole
ly by reason of having funded
such warrants.
| wish to say in connection
with this that the statute of the
State of Washington prohibits a
school board from creating any
debt over and above the current
revenues of the district for any
one year. The statutes and the
constitution further provide that
no school district can create a
debt over and above one and one
half per cent of the taxable val
ue of the property in the dis
trict without a vote of the people
and with such vote they cannot
go over five percent. The posi-
tion you have taken is therefore
correct, namely, that such bond
issue would have no effect as to
the matter of creation of indebt-
edness.
Tells Cause of Trouble
In conclusion, l may add that
the primary reason why the Lyn-
den District is financially lnvoly-
ed. seems to be the fact that the
district voted an eight mill levy
one year and this failed to be
certified in so that it was never
entered on the rolls, the result
being that Lynden district never
got this tax. AS soon as the
State officers inspected the af-
fairs of the district, they i'm
mediately recommended funding
of the warrants which were out
standing as a result. but this was
never done. We believe the only
thing Lynden District can do now
is to proceed as you desire to do,
namely fund SIS, 100000 of its
outstanding warrants and issue
bonds therefor. This, together
with the savings the district is
now making, and has made in the
past year. should put the dis
trict back on its feet.
Explanation of the districts
financial standing, is given in
the following letter received by
the school board from C. w.
Clausen, supervisor of municipal
corporations for the State:
We are in receipt of your ia
vor of March 18th and note that
your district expects to shortly
hold a bond election to fund
some $4,000 of the warrant debt
of your district.
Bond Issue Only Salvation
We think this is very wise
move on the part of the district
and under the present cireum-
stances is the only way in which
the district can place itself upon
a proper financial basis. The
funding of the warrants will not
give the district chance to Gre
ate further debt, as there are
state and constitutional provisions
which govern the debt a district
can incur.
A statement showing the me-
thod of computing the margin be-
tween the net debt and the debt
limit has been given to the coun-
ty auditor of Whatcom County.
Your present large outstanding
warrant Indebtedness is due to
the fact that a special levy of
s mills made in 1919 was not
certified.
We recommended in 1919 a
bond issue, and, as stated above,
ii seems to be the only way by
which you can eXtricate your
selves from your present dilemma
From an examination of the
transactions of your district we
believe that there is being shown
disposition to curtail the ex-
penses of the district, and with
the funding of the warrant debt,
or a portion of it, and contin-
uance of the present policy, the
district should soon be on a
sound financial footing.
The reason we advocated a
bond issue is that we are of the
opinion that the warrant debt
contracted in a prior year cannot
be paid with current funds-the e
current funds should be used for
the year in which they are levied ;
i in other words, the state consti-
/ tuition provides that taxes must
be used for the purposes levied