SEQUIM — The second time was a charm for the Sequim School District, in which voters approved a maintenance and operations levy by almost 3-1.
With about 70 percent of ballots returned and counted, 73.55 percent of voters said “yes” this time to the two-year, $5.16 million replacement levy which will take effect Jan. 1.
A February request for $5.44 million failed by about 3 percent. By state law levy and bond measures require a supermajority of 60 percent for passage.
District officials, school board members and representatives from a citizens advocacy group, working hard to push the levy through, erupted in loud cheers at the Clallam County Courthouse when election workers released Tuesday’s landslide tallies just after 8 p.m.
“I’m absolutely delighted; extremely pleased with our community,” said Phil Langston, co-chair of the nonprofit group Citizens For Sequim Schools.
Langston, his co-leader Bob Macaulay and hundreds of volunteers waged an aggressive campaign through printed materials, phone banks and organized presentations to community groups.
They also lobbied businesses, civic leaders and professionals from the real estate and medical industries to go public with their support of the levy.
