PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles voters approved a $36.4 million education programs and operation replacement levy in the initial count of ballots tonight.
A total of 5,413 voters, or 69.15 percent, approved the levy while 2,415 voters, or 30.85 percent rejected it. The levy needs 50 percent plus one vote for passage.
The Clallam County Auditor’s Office counted 7,829 ballots in the district tonight. More will be counted by 4:30 p.m. Friday after they come in via the U.S. mail or are retrieved from drop boxes.
The voter turnout in the Port Angeles School District was 37.6 percent of the 20,835 registered voters as of tonight.
The Auditor’s Office received 19,882 ballots out of 47,733 issued for three public school district measures, for a total voter turnout of 41.65 percent.
The other measures were placed on the ballot by the Sequim School District and the Quillayute Valley School District, both of which have small numbers of district voters living in Jefferson County.
The Port Angeles levy, which would replace one that expires at the end of this year, would fund 22 percent of the district’s daily operating budget, school officials said.
Officials have stressed it would not be a new tax.
If approved, the district would collect $9.1 million annually for four years starting in 2018.
The district estimates property owners would pay $3.30 per $1,000 of assessed property value, or about $660 annually for a home worth about $200,000, in 2018. Estimated rates for the next three years are $3.26 in 2019, $3.23 in 2020 and $3.20 in 2021.
The district has earmarked 54 percent of the levy to go directly to student programs, which Superintendent Marc Jackson said includes keeping lower class sizes, after-school programs, music, special education and career and tech education.
