The water feels good to Leah Aichele, for more reasons than just the mild 86-degree temperature.

On land, in her wheelchair, Aichele is bound by the constraints that a spinal cyst, removed by surgery a few months ago but still echoing in her body, impose. The Si View pool, though, is a different world altogether.

“Gravity is my enemy,” the North Bend resident says. Immersed, free of pain, “I can do anything I want in the water.”

Aichele is one of about a dozen locals who spend afternoons twice weekly in the pool at Si View Community Center, taking part in a movement class. Aquatic Recreation Specialist Laurel Anderson helps people with spinal disorders, arthritis and fibromyalgia flex joints and stretch limbs in the pool. Anderson says the relaxing moments, which come after a busy, noisy day of children’s swimming lessons, are the best way to end her day.

“I have the best job in the Valley, I really do,” she said.

Aichele was introduced to Si View’s waters at a family pool party, and was referred to the program by a physician.

“Everything gets stronger,” she said of the exercises. “I don’t know what I’d do without it. It’d be pretty sad.”

The future of Si View’s aquatics classes, like much of the eight-year-old metropolitan park district’s programs, are in murky waters this autumn. Thanks to the decline of property values in King County, the district will lose most of its tax levy funding next year without voter action.

Levy cap cuts

Travis Stombaugh knows a lot more today about junior tax districts today than he did a year ago. As director of Si View Metro Parks, he’s watched the district’s buffer in the state-mandated property tax cap go from a dollar in 2009 to zero today. Si View got word earlier this year that it was at the cap and slated for cuts as a junior tax district, lacking the legislature-approved protections that preserve districts like hospitals, schools and fire departments.

By Washington law, taxes approved without a public vote cannot exceed $5.90 per $1,000 in assessed value. As assessed values have fallen during the recession, tax rates have risen to compensate, reaching the cap in some cases.

Still, the speed with which Si View was hit by the cap was surprising.

“Assessed values have a market lag,” Stombaugh said. “No one could say how much it was going to be, or that it would have the effect it did… They just came.”

Si View’s operations levy hit that cap in one of its four tax code areas, in unincorporated King County; Stombaugh believes a King County roads levy made the difference. As a result, Si View’s levy must fall by 84 percent, from 53 cents per $1,000 in assessed value to nine cents.

Taxes subsidize 36 percent of programs, 25 percent of capital funds and 30 percent of general expenses. Without the bulk of its levy, Stombaugh is looking at a raft of cuts. Voter support, in the form of two levy measures designed to make the district whole, would prevent this.

Both measures are slated for the November general election. Proposition 1 would protect 25 cents of the existing levy from being automatically reduced. Proposition 2 is a one-year Operations and Maintenance (O&M) levy that would restore the remaining 19 cents on a temporary basis.

“Neither of these propositions raise taxes,” Stombaugh said.

Of all junior districts, Si View is in the bull’s eye when it comes to levy cuts.

“We’re taking the brunt,” Stombaugh said. “All of the districts above us, they don’t have to take any reduction. And they still get their 1 percent increase.”

State Sen. Cheryl Pflug helped marshal legislation allowing the small district even to go to voters for help. Stombaugh is grateful for that.

If the two measures pass, Si View will be funded entirely for one year.

Beyond that, Stombaugh hopes for an economic reprieve as well as a legislative one: rising home values and legislator-led protection from the cap.

The district is also retiring an escrow loan in 2013 that will save about $140,000 in debt annually that is now served out of the operating levy.

“We’ll become even leaner than we are now,” Stombaugh said. A hiring freeze has meant that Si View has made do with interns in the place of its recreation coordinator.

Besides jobs—Si View has 11 full-time workers and about 40 seasonal staff—the district provides recreation and parks that boost property values, Stombaugh said. Youth activities also help ensure better futures for children, he said.

If measures do not pass, Stombaugh expects the pool to close. The before- and after-school programs, summer camps, youth basketball, adult softball, annual Halloween and holiday parties and the Si View Farmer’s Market and summer concerts would also be on the chopping block. There would be fewer staff to help with the Festival at Mount Si. Most remaining programs would have to be volunteer based.

“Essentially, we’d be caretakers of our park and our building,” Stombaugh said.

Si View’s legacy

Ironically, it’s becoming progressively easier for Si View to take care of its physical assets, including the 73-year-old building.

In 2003, a big majority, 71 percent of residents, voted to create the district.

“We didn’t go in and fix everything right away,” Stombaugh said. “We’ve been fiscally conservative to properly use the tax dollars that we get and the fees that we charge.”

Last August, Si View passed its first bond, a $6.7 million request for repairs and upgrades at the park and Community Center, and a new park at Tollgate Farm.

“We’ve done projects that make maintaining the building easier and allow us to use the facility more,” Stombaugh said.

Thanks to that, use tripled between 2007 and 2010. Last year, Si View had 110,000 visitors.

“We’re seeing more and more people, and we think we provide something for everyone,” Stombaugh said.

The Si View catalog includes a host of activities for all ages and interests. Stombaugh sees his district as an anchor for North Bend, and its programs as vital.

“You have a river community, a community surrounded by water,” he said. Si View “is the only aquatics program that serves the Valley. People need to know how to swim: that’s a life skill that needs to be learned.”

Ultimately, the future “comes down to what the voters want,” Stombaugh said. “I hope that people see the direct and indirect value that we bring.”

That value was clear to Aaron and Nicole Duncan, local teachers who took camp counselor jobs at Si View this summer.

Screams and giggles are music to the ears of Aaron, who led a round of “Birthday Tag” while waiting for parents to collect their children. He doesn’t know where families and children would go without the community center.

“Si View’s been a big part of the community for a long time,” he said.

Picking up his daughter, Mia, from Si View’s summer camp, North Bend parent Jordan Cranwell echoed their thoughts.

“It’s contributed to her growth, and it does give us peace of mind to know it’s here,” he said.

• Learn more about Si View Parks District at http://www.siviewpark.org/