PORT TOWNSEND — Some Jefferson County voters will weigh in on levies for school districts in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
Ballots, which go to voters in the individual school districts, are due by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The election is not countywide.
County voters are being asked to decided on levies for Chimacum, Quillayute Valley and Queets-Clearwater school districts, as well as a few Jefferson County voters in the Sequim School District.
As of Thursday, 4,047 ballots, or 36 percent of 11,198 sent to voters, have been received in Jefferson County, with 3,982 accepted, according to the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office.
The Chimacum School District replacement EP&O levy is a four-year levy that amounts to a total of $8.7 million to finance educational operations and maintenance.
It would cost taxpayers about 86 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation in 2022 and would decrease each year to a low of 82 cents per 1,000 of assessed value, according to VoteWa.gov.
The Sequim School District proposals include a four-year, $29.7 million EP&O levy that would replace Sequim’s current local tax and pay for core learning functions not supported in state’s basic education formula, as well as a four-year, $15 million capital projects levy to address a number of building issues.
Taxpayers in the district would pay between $1.87 ($1.24 for the EP&O levy, 63 cents for the capital projects levy) and $1.89 ($1.26/$0.63) per $1,000 of assessed value starting in 2022 through 2026, district officials said.
The Quillayute levy in Forks is a four-year EP&O levy of about $2.86 million to fill financial education gaps not funded by the state. It would have taxpayers pay an estimated $1.25 and $1.16 per $1,000 assessed value beginning in 2022, according to VoteWa.gov.
The Queets-Clearwater School District EP&O replacement levy is a three-year levy estimated at about $225,000. It would cost taxpayers an estimated $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed valuation each year starting in 2022 to finance maintenance and operation expenses, according to VoteWa.gov.
The deadline to change voter registration online, over the phone or by mail has passed. Voters now have to go to the county auditor’s office to change registrations in person.
Ballots can be mailed or dropped into an official election dropbox until 8 p.m. Tuesday. It is recommended that if ballots are mailed through the U.S. Postal Service that voters have the ballot physically postmarked with the mailing date to make sure it’s counted.
Ballot box locations for Jefferson County boxes can be found at https://tinyurl.com/PDN-JeffersonDropboxes.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
