Primary Election: Spokane fire districts pass tax increases with narrow margins

(The Center Square) – As Spokane County finishes processing the votes from Tuesday’s primary election, all five tax measures on the ballot are on track to pass, but two are within 100 votes of failing.

Airway Heights, Cheney and three of the county’s fire protection districts put levies on the ballot, hoping to garner enough votes to pass. While each has enough support to pass right now, the official results aren’t certified until Aug. 20, leaving plenty of time to narrow the margin.

However, Fire District 9, which put its levy back on the ballot after failing in April, secured a wide margin for an almost certain victory. The levy failed to reach the supermajority by less than a percent of the vote in April but secured a 66.48% approval rate this time around.

The success allows the district to replace its current Maintenance and Operations Levy with a new one. Starting next year, taxpayers in the district will pay $1.47 for every $1,000 of assessed property value instead of the current rate of $1.29.

Under the new levy, the $1.47 rate will increase to $1.49 by 2027, representing a 15.5% tax hike from the current rate to the end of the three-year cycle.

Fire Districts 4 and 13 also put levies on the ballot, but rather than replacing the current levy, they asked voters to raise their rates in the middle of the cycle. Levy lid lifts, or raising the rate above the allowable maximum, only requires a simple majority vote, unlike new or replacement levies.

District 4 asked its voters to raise the rate back to what it was in 2021, taking it from $1.16 to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a roughly 29% increase. The lid lift received 59.4% of the vote, giving it the simple majority to pass by more than 1,000 votes.

District 13 is also on track to pass its lid lift but by less than 100 votes. It asked voters to increase the rate back to what it was in 2009. The shift from 79 cents to $1.10 per every $1,000 of assessed property value represents a 39% tax increase.

While 57.93% of voters elected to pass the lid lift, that’s only from 296 people, with 208 opting against the increase. With thousands of ballots left to process, District 13 could see its levy fail if enough votes sway to the other side before the results are certified.

The City of Airway Heights asked its residents for the most significant tax increase, a 71.9% leap for public safety and city operations. The tax hike would take the current property tax rate from $1.39 to $2.39 for every $1,000 of assessed value.

As of Wednesday morning, 51.85% of Airway Heights voters favored the increase. However, like District 13, that’s only 322 people, with 289 voting against the lid lift. As the remaining votes are processed, the majority could swing to the other side.

The City of Cheney, on the other hand, replaced its six-year Emergency Medical Services Levy with a new one; however, unlike the others, it elected to keep the same rate of $0.50 per every $1,000 of assessed property value.

As of Wednesday morning, less than 850 votes had been processed for that measure, but 75.35% of respondents supported replacing the current levy with another six-year cycle.

Spokane County will certify the official results of Tuesday’s primary election on Aug. 20.