Corrects the name of the group Judy Rhodes leads, Citizens for SARC.
PORT ANGELES — Signatures to place a measure on the Aug. 4 ballot to create a metropolitan park district that would support the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center were turned in Wednesday morning to the Clallam County Auditor’s Office.
Altogether, 4,467 signatures were submitted. By law, the petition must be signed by 15 percent, or 3,247, of the 21,647 registered voters in the SARC district, according to Judy Rhodes, who led the Citizens for SARC drive for signatures.
August ballot
If a sufficient number is valid, the auditor will place the measure on the August ballot and call for a candidates to file for the five park district commission positions.
County Auditor Shoona Riggs expects to finish by May 8.
“We hope to have it done within time to have regular filing” during the May 11-15 candidate filing period, she said.
The signatures will be checked at least twice to ensure they are legitimate.
Officials of the facility at 610 N. Fifth Ave. — which has exercise equipment and the city’s only public pool — expect to run out of money in December 2016.
Levy amount
A metropolitan park district board can, by law, levy up to 75 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation in property taxes without putting the tax before voters.
The SARC petition specifies that the board would implement a tax levy of 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The metropolitan park district for SARC is one of two such proposals in the works for registered voters in the area defined by the Sequim School District.
The second would be a broad-based park district to fund various parks and recreation activities, if the city of Sequim pursues it for February.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
