Voters in Longview and Kalama school districts will begin receiving ballots in the mail Saturday for spring levy elections.

Ballots are due March 10 for both elections.

The Longview School District is asking voters to approve a two-year maintenance and operations levy and two-year $2.6 million capital levy.

If approved, the M&O levy would collect about $13.5 million in 2010 and $14.2 million in 2011. It would cost property owners an estimated $3.01 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in each of the two years. It would replace an existing levy, which expires this year, that is costing property owners $2.53 per thousand dollars of assessed value.

M&O levies pay staff costs not covered by state funding, as well as costs for computers, sports, extracurricular activities, busing, building maintenance and special education. M&O levies fund about one-sixth of Longview School District’s budget.

The two-year capital levy would cost property owners an estimated 28 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation. It would fund improved teaching technology for classrooms, replace the R.A. Long High School fire alarm system, fix broken ventilation systems at Mark Morris and improve security.

Combined, the capital levy and the M&O levy would cost taxpayers about $3.29 per thousand of assessed valuation, or $493.50 on a home assessed at $150,000.

Kalama School District’s proposed three-year, $5 million maintenance and operations levy replaces a three-year, $4 million levy that expires this year.

If approved, the levy would raise $1.6 million in 2010, $1.67 million in 2011 and $1.75 million in 2012. M&O levies help cover costs not funded by the state.

The levy rate, now about $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation, would increase to about $1.78 per $1,000. The owner of a home valued at $150,000 would pay $267 a year.

Ballot drop boxes

Ballot drop boxes are now open in six locations around the county. They will close at 8 p.m. March 10.

Registered voters in Longview and Kalama School Districts who do not receive a ballot by March 3 should contact the elections department at 577-3005. All voting is by mail.

Ballots also are available in the elections department at the Cowlitz County Administration building, 207 Fourth Avenue North in Kelso.