Council, candidates endorse Local Option

All five sitting city council members, and all candidates running in the fall election for three contested seats, agree on at least one thing: Sisters Country voters should renew the Local Option school levy.

At a recent city council meeting, the council passed a resolution in support of the existing tax, which is up for renewal on ballots sent to voters last week.

It reads in part, "the Sisters Local Option has been in place in the Sisters School District since July 2001 and has provided valuable operating funds to finance academic and co-curricular programs during this time; the Sisters City Council values the strong Sisters schools and recognizes the outstanding achievements of the students of the Sisters School District in state and federal student assessment tests and other scholastic awards."

The Local Option provides about 9 percent of the Sisters schools' budget.

It is a tax of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed value that appears on the property tax bills of those who live in the Sisters School District. It contributes about $1 million per year to fund lower class sizes, state-of-the-art classroom technology, current textbooks, academic electives, co-curricular programs and competitive teacher salaries.

All five candidates vying for election to the Sisters City Council have also individually endorsed the Local Option.