Lewis County Fire District 11’s property tax for fire protection and emergency medical services was passing as of election night.
The fire district covers the Pe Ell area.
As of 8:03 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 311 ballots, or 67.03% of the total, were in favor of the levy, and 153, or 32.97% of the total, were opposed.
If passed, the measure would allow District 11 to set its regular property tax at $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. The funds will maintain and improve fire protection and emergency medical services, replace apparatus, equipment and facilities and provide for firefighter safety. The district’s current levy rate is 47 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
The Lewis County Auditor’s Office counted a total of 37,952 ballots on election night, with an estimated 5,000 ballots left to count. The next count will be released at 5 p.m. on Nov. 6.
Lewis County had a 71.64% participation rate as of 6:30 p.m. on election night, with 57,441 eligible voters and 41,152 ballots returned, according to information released by the Washington Secretary of State. Of the returned ballots, 40,637 had been accepted and 515 had been challenged as of 6:30 p.m. on election night.
