Second day of vote counts for Bellingham, Ferndale schools and Birch Bay library
Voters were still split over school funding in Bellingham and Ferndale and a library measure in Birch Bay, after a second day of ballot counts Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 9.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, for the special election that featured a bond measure for Bellingham schools, a levy renewal for Ferndale schools and a vote to allow Birch Bay to sell bonds and tax local homeowners to fund a community library.
Bond measures for Bellingham Public Schools and the Birch Bay Library Capital Facility Area require 60% approval.
Bellingham’s bond measure also requires 40% turnout from the previous school funding measure.
Ferndale’s levy measure requires a simple majority of 50% plus one vote.
Turnout was 37% of the 107,797 registered voters in Whatcom County, according to the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office website.
There were an estimated 50 ballots left to count late Wednesday and the next count will be released Thursday, Feb. 17, a day before the election certification date.
Wednesday’s results
According to a tally of votes released by the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office on Wednesday afternoon:
▪ A proposed $122 million school bond issue in Bellingham was passing 61% to 39%.
“We are so thankful to our voters,” Superintendent Greg Baker said at the district’s website. “While the results of this election are not certified until Feb. 18, we are feeling hopeful we have met the supermajority threshold required by state law.”
That measure was failing by 59% to 41% after the first vote on Tuesday night.
It asked voters to increase the rate for the school’s part of the property tax to $3.47 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in 2022 and to $3.72 in 2023 and 2024.
It would add about $200 a year in property tax for the owner of a median-priced home in Bellingham, which is about $550,000, said Simone Sangster, assistant superintendent for finance.
▪ A Ferndale School District request for a continuing operations levy increased its approval margin to 60% to 40%.
It would keep the current property tax at a rate of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, meaning the owner of a $500,000 home would keep paying about $750 a year for the school district’s part of their property tax.
▪ A bond measure for the Birch Bay library was still failing Wednesday, with the margin unchanged at 57% to 43%.
It would cost the owner of a $350,000 home about $38.50 a year in extra tax for the library.
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 5:03 PM.
