SEQUIM — A jubilant carload of Citizens for Sequim Schools celebrated victory Tuesday night as the Sequim School District levy pulled in 6,856 yes votes, for 60.03 percent of the total ballots cast in the all-mail election.
With voters in two counties marking ballots, 4,564, or 39.96 percent, opposed the measure.
All ballots on hand were counted in both counties. More are expected to arrive in the mail — those postmarked Tuesday — before the next count on Friday.
Levies require a simple majority to pass.
In Clallam County — where 11,286 ballots, or 54.94 percent, were returned out of the 20,534 mailed — 6,775, or 60.12 percent, approved the measure while 4,494, or 39.88 percent, opposed it.
The Sequim district extends into the Jefferson County community of Gardiner — where 151 ballots were returned out of the 253 mailed ballots, for a turnout of 59.68 percent.
It won there too, with 81 votes, or 53.64 percent, in favor of the levy, and 70 votes, or 46.36 percent, opposed.
The total voter turnout for the Sequim levy, the Cape Flattery School District levy and a levy lid lift in the Joyce Fire District was 53.49 percent Tuesday, with 12,323 ballots received and counted out of 23,033 mailed.
This election was a hotly debated one, with many protesting the measure’s property-tax rate increases.
So when the numbers came out, “I jumped up,” said E. Michael McAleer, a member of the advocacy group Citizens for Sequim Schools who was riding back to Sequim after hearing election results at the Clallam County Courthouse.
“We are ecstatic for the kids,” on Sequim’s five public campuses, added Virginia O’Neil, a member of both the Sequim School District Board of Directors and the citizens group.
“It really means Sequim has taken a step forward. We’ll have stable funding for three years,” she said.
“This is amazing considering the current economic climate,” said Sequim Schools Superintendent Bill Bentley. “We understand these are not easy financial times. That makes it all the more special.
“This is a significant victory for the kids.”
The levy will replace the current property tax — now 77 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation — when it expires at the end of 2010, and will raise rates.
Next year, home- and landowners in the Sequim district will pay 98 cents per $1,000 for school programs; in 2012 that will rise to $1.19 and in 2013 it’ll go to $1.40 per $1,000 in assessed valuation.
The levy will raise $14.73 million over the next three years for schoolteachers’ salaries, an after-school help program, textbooks, computers and restoration of a school nurse and campus police officer.
The next ballot count is set for Friday — at 4:30 p.m. in Clallam County and by noon in Jefferson County — and the election will be finalized and certified Feb. 24.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
