King County Elections will mail ballots on Wednesday, April 8, to all registered voters for the April 28 Special Election.
This special election includes measures from seven jurisdictions on issues such as transportation, school construction, public safety, parks and more.
Kent voters will have a chance to vote yes or no on the countywide Proposition 1, a property tax levy to pay for the Emergency Public Safety Radio Network Replacement Project.
The nine-year, $273 million property tax levy lid lift proposal would raise revenue needed to replace the county’s aging emergency radio system.
Police, fire and emergency responders of all kinds in jurisdictions throughout the county rely on the radio system to do their jobs, to communicate during emergency incidents and natural disasters like earthquakes, flooding, landslides and wind storms. But the system on which all these entities and personnel lean is 20 years old, and given recent population growth and the countless advances in technology since 1995, the system is showing its gray hairs.
Last year, King County system’s provider, the Motorola Company, told county officials that after 2018, it would no longer support any equipment that constitutes the system.
If approved by voters, the levy lid lift would be levied at a rate of not more than 7 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The levy is projected to generate $273 million in revenues. The cost would be about $21 per year on a $300,000 home.
King County Elections has forecast a turnout of 33 percent for this election.
Voters will receive a voters’ pamphlet with all measures in this election. Ballots will include only the measures for which a voter is eligible to vote.
Voters should read and follow directions on their ballots, sign the return envelope, and get ballots back before the April 28 election day deadline. Mailed ballots need a first-class stamp. Voters also have 25 locations to return ballots without a stamp by 8 p.m. on April 28, including permanent drop-box locations, scheduled ballot drop-off vans and Accessible Voting Centers.
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