Park district levy barely passes
Published 12:58 pm Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Island voters have apparently renewed the Vashon Park District’s levy by a narrow margin.
Election results updated Monday showed the levy — which needs 60 percent approval to be renewed — was passing by just 19 votes. Park District Director Elaine Ott said that with most ballots counted, district staff were optimistic the levy would pass.
“With that said, we can’t be 100 percent certain until it’s certified,” she said.
She added that despite the outcome, she believes the close vote reflects the public discontent that the park district has been hearing of for some time.
“I think the reasons for that have been pretty clearly stated by the public in terms of their dissatisfaction with the commissioners, their concern over VES Fields mismanagement over the years. So the message certainly has been loud and clear,” she said.
When initial election results were released on Tuesday, April 28, the levy was trailing with 59.52 percent of the votes. However, as King County Elections counted ballots over the course of the week, the tally turned in favor of the park district.
As of Monday, the levy had 60.55 percent approval — with 2,097 yes votes — and 39.45 percent disapproval — with 1,366 no votes.
Results posted Monday also showed that of the 3,522 ballots returned from Vashon, 56 had not been counted due to signature issues, meaning the ballots were not signed or signatures didn’t match what King County has on file.
Kim van Ekstrom, a spokeswoman for King County Elections, said the agency should have received all or nearly all ballots by now. It’s unlikely the levy outcome will change, she said, unless perhaps a large number of people resolve their signature issues.
Voters with signature issues are notified with a call or email. The election will be certified on May 12.
“We don’t call elections,” van Ekstrom said. “For the media who’s watching that, it kind of depends on how aggressively some group might be working to resolve signature issues.”
Van Ekstrom also said it’s unlikely a recount would change the levy’s outcome. In local elections, a citizen may request and pay for a recount, but King County has a history of accurate counts, she said. Since mail-in elections began a few years ago, recounts have only changed results by a couple votes, if that, and a recount has never changed an election outcome.
“The track record is very spot on,” she said.
Traditionally, park district levy elections have drawn considerable support on Vashon, including the last levy, in 2009, which passed with nearly 70 percent of the vote. This year, however, some predicted that increasing public dissatisfaction with the park district could put the levy at risk.
A small group of islanders set out to campaign in support of the levy. They placed ads in The Beachcomber, and the group’s leader, former parks commissioner Kristin Pesman, was occasionally seen walking down the highway with a sign reading “Vote yes for parks.”
Ott was unsure if the commissioners would discuss the levy results or consider changes in light of the close vote. She did note that the 2015 budget is already in place and that the most noticeable changes might come after this fall, when three commissioner seats are up for election. Candidate filing for those positions opens May 11 and closes May 15.
Board chair Joe Wald said on Monday that he heard more people speak out against the levy this spring than in the past. Despite the park district’s troubles, he said he’s happy with the direction the agency is now headed and the staff it has on board, though he believes commissioners are open to suggestions. He was also pleased the levy was passing, though he was surprised it didn’t have more support.
“If it passes, it also shows me over 60 percent of the people like the direction we’re headed,” he said.
Should the levy fail, Ott has said the park district would seek to put the measure back on the next ballot and would consider operating on a reduced budget in the meantime to save money.
On Monday, she said she was pleased the district likely won’t have to make those difficult budget decisions.
“It would not be a pleasant next step,” she said.
The only other measure on the ballot for Vashon, a property tax increase to fund a new radio system for emergency responders in King County, passed with about 65 percent of the vote.
