Voters approved school levies in both Brinnon and Quilcene school districts on Tuesday.
Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge called the election shortly after 8 p.m.
“We’ll get some more in the mail,” Eldridge said.
“But nothing can skew it — they passed.”
Brinnon voters returned 515 ballots of the 954 mailed. Sixty percent — or 309 voters — voted yes, while 206 voted no.
In Quilcene, 609 ballots were returned out of the 1,238 mailed. Voters approved the levy by 62 percent with 379 yes votes and 230 no votes.
The levies will help to pay for textbooks, site maintenance, staff development, extracurricular activities and sports, among other things.
Both superintendents were thrilled with the outcome of the election.
“This is very exciting,” said Brinnon Superintendent Nancy Thompson.
“Our children are our investment in the future, and I really want to thank the community for supporting them.”
Quilcene Superintendent David Andersen also described the election results as exciting.
“We now have four years of financial stability,” Andersen said.
“We really appreciate the community support, and special thanks goes out to the Citizens for Quality Education who helped get this passed.”
Andersen and Thompson said that although they were both confident that voters would approve the levies, they thought about the election more and more as the day approached.
“It’s kind of like Christmas,” Andersen said.
“You hope you get something good but you just never know.”
The Brinnon district will receive $544,490 from the approved levy, which will be collected from property owners in 2009 and 2010.
Quilcene will receive $960,000 over four years, with the collection period beginning in 2009 and ending in 2012.
Taxes will be assessed based on property value in the area.
In Brinnon, the levy will cost homeowners in the district $1.01 for every $1,000 on the assessed value of their property in 2009 and $1.06 per $1,000 in 2010.
In Quilcene, homeowners in the district will pay an additional $1.42 for every $1,000 on the assessed value of their property in 2009 and 2010 and $1.45 per $1,000 in 2011 and 2012.
Out of a total of 2,180 registered voters, 1,125 voted in the elections, for a voter turnout of 51.61 percent, Eldridge reported.
