PORT TOWNSEND — A judge has ruled that Port Townsend residents can vote Aug. 19 whether to raise the “lid” on the tax levy for the city library.
Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Russ Hartman ruled on Monday that a petition filed by Jefferson County Assessor Jack Westerman III will not change the wording of the ballot measure the city originally submitted to the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office.
The hearing — which took place via a three-way conference call between county representatives, city representatives and the court in Kitsap County — spurred from the City Council stating its intent to use money from a proposed levy-lid lift for the Port Townsend Library, and to use money currently earmarked for the library in the general fund for parks, community services and capital facilities instead.
Westerman said the claim that the city is raising the lid specifically for the Port Townsend Library was “in conflict with the resolution which delineates half the 75 cent lid-lift would be used for parks, community services and capital facilities.”
He was asking that the resolution include wording indicating the lift will support parks, community services and capital facilities.
