Pasco school bond teetering

Pasco School District, Wash., officials will have to wait on the edge of their seats a little longer to learn the fate of a $99.5 million bond.

A final ballot update is expected next week, when the election is certified.

Only a small number of ballots remain to be counted. The Franklin County Auditor’s Office isn’t releasing the results piecemeal to protect voter anonymity; instead, it’s going to do one last update Nov. 28.

Election-Vote-Ballot

The election is close enough that a few ballots will make the difference.

As it stands now, the bond measure is failing by a single vote. It has 6,221 yes votes, or 59.99 percent, and it needs 60 percent approval to pass.

There’s been some confusion about the passage threshold, with some officials and literature saying that school bonds need 60 percent approval plus one vote.

However, an official with the Washington Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Monday that the threshold is a flat 60 percent.

There is no rounding, so Pasco’s current 59.99 percent still wouldn’t clear the bar. But the remaining ballots could tip the scales either way.

The school district proposed the bond to address overcrowding. If approved, it would pay for two new elementary schools, a new middle school and rebuilding Stevens Middle school.

It would cost property owners an estimated 59 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or $118 annually for a $200,000 home.

Tribune Content Agency
School bonds Bond elections Washington
MORE FROM BOND BUYER