TWO SEPARATE PROPERTY tax levy requests from the Port Angeles and the Forks-area Quillayute Valley school districts were heading to easy victories in the first round of ballot-counting Tuesday night.
More ballots will be counted later in the week but are not expected to reverse the voting trend.
The four-year levy in Port Angeles calls for the collection of about $8.2 million, with an estimated tax rate of $2.65 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
That means that the owner of a $200,000 home in Port Angeles will pay $530 a year in property taxes to the school district.
In Forks, the levy amount was increased by about $60,000 per year in order to bring revenue up to the level that would get the most state-matching dollars, Quillayute Valley School District Superintendent Diana Reaume said.
The two-year levy will bring in $626,348 each year with an estimated tax rate of $1.41 per $1,000 assessed valuation.
That means that the owner of a $200,000 home would pay about $282 per year in property taxes.
IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, voters countywide approved a sales tax increase of 0.3 percent — bringing the tax rate up to 9 percent — to avoid service cuts to Jefferson Transit, and also passed property tax levies in the Port Townsend and Chimacum school districts.
As in Clallam, more ballots will be counted later in the week but are not expected to reverse the voting trend.
Voters countywide were asked to approve the sales tax increase, which will add 3 cents to a $10 retail purchase.
The tax levies were before voters only in the Port Townsend and Chimacum school district.
The Jefferson Transit board — made up of the three county commissioners and two Port Townsend City Council members — placed the sales tax measure on the ballot, saying that the anticipated $1.1 million it is expected to generate annually would allow the public agency to maintain existing bus services.
The Port Townsend School District requested a four-year replacement educational programs and operation property tax levy, which would collect $3.1 million its first year in 2012 and about 4 percent more each year.
The current levy — which raises about $3 million — has a tax rate of $1.17 per $1,000 assessed valuation, which means the owner of a $200,000 home pays about $234 in property taxes.
The estimated rate of the new levy would be $1.23 per $1,000 assessed valuation, which means the owner of a $200,000 home will pay $246.
The Chimacum School District asked for $2.25 million with a rate of $1.23 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, meaning that the owner of a $200,000 home would pay $246 in 2012 property taxes.
