Two ballot proposals in Kirkland are winning favor from voters, according to early election results.
The first results from the 2012 general election were released by King County Elections at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
“This is absolutely essential,” said Councilman Dave Asher during an election night party at the Woodmark Hotel. “If we don’t win this election, we’ve got to refashion it and come back again to the public, so this requires some investments on the publics’ part. I’m just really heartened to see that it’s passing.”
He added that Kirkland’s “price of government” is very reasonable and lower than surrounding cities and “people are willing to step up to do the right thing.”
Proposition 2 – a parks maintenance, renovation and enhancement levy – has 13,303 supporting votes or 56.96 percent so far, while 10,050 or 43.03 percent have voted against the measure, according to early returns.
“I’m really happy about the parks in particular because it was a citizen-led initiative, it was their campaign all the way along and to have it be successful is pretty exciting,” said Councilwoman Amy Walen during the Woodmark event.
“I’m just thankful that citizens want to invest back into the city because for years we’ve been dedicated to parks and open spaces in Kirkland, we’re famous for it and it just reaffirms that again.”
She also thanked citizens who served on the Parks Funding Exploratory Committee, who helped craft the measures. One of those citizens was Sue Keller, who also served on the Yes! For Great Kirkland Parks campaign. She explained the parks measure is a permanent park maintenance levy to allow citizens to continue to invest Kirkland parks.
The pedestrian and safety levy, Proposition 1, had 12,754 supporting votes or 54.76 percent, while 10,533 have voted against the measure or 45.23 percent.
The proposed street improvement and pedestrian safety levy would provide much needed funding to repair potholes, repave and enhance arterials and neighborhood streets, provide safety walking and biking routes to schools, and improve pedestrian and driver safety on neighborhood streets.
The ballot measure proposes an ongoing property tax levy of 20 cents per $1,000 of assessed value and would annually generate an estimated $3 million. The estimated annual cost is $71.20 for a home valued at $349,000 (based upon the Kirkland median of assessed value of a single family home).
The proposed parks levy would restore and enhance funding for maintenance and operations and capital projects. Through the efforts of a citizen advisory group, the restoration and enhancement of parks maintenance and operations and the renovation and improvement of several park projects were identified.
The ballot measure proposes an ongoing property tax levy of 16 cents per $1,000 of assessed value and would annually generate an estimated $2.345 million. The estimated annual cost is $55.84 for a home valued at $349,000 (based upon the Kirkland median of assessed value of a single family home).
The Elections Department will update results again tomorrow by 4:30 p.m. and most subsequent weekdays until election certification on Nov. 27.
The Reporter will update results as they become available.
Assistant editor Matt Phelps contributed to this story.
