The replacement levy for the Centralia School District was failing by less than 200 votes after the initial tally was released by the Lewis County Auditor’s Office on Tuesday night.
According to the initial tally, 2,485 people voted against the measure while 2,292 were opposed, or 52.02 percent to 47.98 percent.
Some ballots submitted to drop boxes or postmarked before 8 p.m. Tuesday have yet to be tallied. Voter turnout was 32.62 percent. The next count will be announced Wednesday afternoon.
The proposal is for the same rate of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value that voters approved in 2021, but due to increased property valuations, the rate would bring in a higher collection amount than permitted by the existing levy, which expires at the end of this year.
After the proposal failed on the February special election ballot, the Centralia School Board voted to place the same measure on the April ballot. State law allows school districts to run two ballot measures in a calendar year, meaning the current election is the Centralia School District’s last opportunity to try and pass a levy before the existing levy expires at the end of the year.
The Lewis County Auditor’s Office mailed 14,172 ballots to all active registered voters within the Centralia School District on April 5.
More information on the levy proposal itself is available at https://www.centralia.k12.wa.us/domain/1093.
Read about the possible implications for sports in the Centralia School District here: https://www.chronline.com/stories/all-or-nothing-whats-at-stake-for-centralia-athletics-in-upcoming-replacement-levy-vote,317745?
Read a student’s perspective here: https://www.chronline.com/stories/commentary-a-students-perspective-on-the-centralia-school-levy,317679?
Read about the decision to place the levy on the ballot here: https://www.chronline.com/stories/we-cant-fail-this-one-centralia-school-district-will-put-levy-on-april-ballot-after,314477?
