While voter turnout in Tuesday’s primary election exceeded the 50 percent plateau, assuring $116 million of tax money to Eugene schools for structural improvements and $19.6 million to continue improvements to the city’s library, a city measure vying to fund the construction of new fire department facilities remained undetermined four hours after the first ballots were counted.
As of 11:15 p.m., 50.6 percent of Eugene voters returned ballots, ending supporters’ fears of not meeting Oregon’s double majority law, which affects all city levies asking for taxpayer funding in primary elections.
Each measure squeaked past the law’s requirement, which mandates 50 percent of registered voters cast ballots and, of those ballots, more than 50 percent of citizens must vote “yes.”
The focus now turns to the results of the last-minute votes, which will ultimately decide the outcome of city ballot measures.
The tallying won’t be complete until late Tuesday evening or early today, and there’s no telling when election results will be made official, election volunteer John Wilnau said.
Annette Newingham, chief deputy county clerk for Lane County, said she has 20 days after the election to certify the results.
Either way, the outcome could
be close.
As of midnight Tuesday, Lane County Elections showed funding for a new fire station was narrowly winning by 31 votes. The library levy looked to be approved, with 53.8 percent in favor and 46.2 opposed.
“When it’s tied like this, my guess is that it will win,” Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey said. “People who come out at the end are traditionally ‘yes’ voters.”
Torrey criticized the fire union for spending its time and money opposing city councilors, all of whom won their respective wards. If the union had spent time raising voter awareness and spent money on campaigning, Torrey said the measure would have been easily approved.
Connie Bennett, Eugene library services director, said she knew the results of Measure 20-57 would be close. She said the measure was “just barely” ahead after the 10 p.m. results were released.
“I have a feeling I’m going to be here until midnight,” Bennett said.
Anette Spickard, a member of the Eugene School District’s school board, ran to the group’s table just after 10 p.m., jumping and screaming with news of the school levy’s passage.
“It’s definitely been worth it,” Spickard said. “I knew Eugene wouldn’t let us down. It was just nerve-racking.”
School board vice chairwoman Beth Gerot was congratulated by City Councilor Scott Meisner as news of the passage spread. Gerot called the measure “imperative” to maintaining schools in Eugene, and added she was worried about the outcome until the announcement.
Tuesday’s voter turnout was higher than past primary elections. According to Oregon Elections Division records, the last time statewide turnout in a non-presidential primary exceeded 50 percent was 1970.
The passage of Measure 20-56 will allocate $116 million in property taxes to the school district to provide better instructional facilities and replace aging buildings. The funding also will allow for remodeling and additions at several schools, major repairs to teaching facilities and improvements to district-wide safety and security systems. The average property owner’s tax bill will increase by about $124 annually.
Measure 20-57 could issue almost $8.7 million of property taxes to build a new downtown fire station to replace the existing City Hall fire station and a live-fire training facility. The levy would allocate $7.8 million toward construction of the new fire station and $900,000 to the live-fire training facility. The levy would increase taxes for a property assessed at $143,000 by about $16 per year.
Measure 20-58 will devote $19.6 million in property taxes to fund operational costs, facility expenses and continued service improvements. The original library levy, passed in 1998, expires June 30, 2003. The passage of the measure will increase the average property tax bill by about $80 per year.