EPHRATA — A Wahluke School District capital levy request that was losing after the first vote count Feb. 11 edged ahead in updated vote totals released Feb. 13, according to the Grant County Auditor’s Office. The total of yes votes increased slightly for educational programs and operations levies submitted to voters by the Moses Lake and Ephrata school districts.  

In updated totals from the Feb 11 special election, the WSD capital levy had 298 yes votes, 50.34%, to 294 no votes, 49.66%. As of election night, the levy had 202 no votes, 57.99%, to 147 yes votes, 42.2%. 

Vote totals will be updated Tuesday, with the election results certified Friday. 

About 170 ballots are left to count countywide, according to the Grant County Auditor’s Office. An auditor’s office official said those are ballots that require additional review.  

Auditor’s officials said there’s no way to tell how many ballots are left for each of the five districts that had levy proposals on the ballot.  

The percentage of yes votes in the Moses Lake School District edged upward slightly, with 6,635 people voting yes, 59.57%, and 4,503 people voting no, 40.43%. Election night results had 5,911 people voting yes and 4,417 people voting no.  

The approval percentage also improved slightly in the Ephrata School District, with 1,826 people voting yes, 66.33%, and 927 people voting no, 33.67%. Election night results showed 1,622 yes votes, 65.83% to 842 no votes, 34.17%.  

The percentage of voters casting ballots also increased from the initial vote count to the update. As of Feb.13, voter turnout was 40.58%, up from 35.78% on election night.  

Wahluke Superintendent Andy Harlow expressed gratitude toward district voters for taking on an additional tax for three years. 

“The magnitude of people’s willingness to take on this new tax – it's really going to help our district,” he said. 

If the levy passes, property owners will pay 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, or about $75 for each $100,000 of assessed value. The levy would raise about $2.28 million over three years.  

“This is really, really huge,” Harlow said. “The biggest winners in this, obviously, are our students and our community. Another huge winner, if (the levy result) holds up, is our maintenance department.” 

If it passes, most of the money, about $2.2 million, will be used to repay a loan taken out to replace the heating-cooling system at Mattawa Elementary School. The rest would go toward fire alarm and security alarm upgrades at MES, Morris Schott STEAM Elementary, Saddle Mountain Elementary and Wahluke Junior High. 

Harlow said in an earlier interview that the fire alarm and security systems have been upgraded over time, but that doesn’t apply to all the system hardware. Some hasn’t been upgraded since the mid-1980s, he said.   

District officials plan to keep working to connect with district patrons, he said, emphasizing transparency and good fiscal management. 

“I think we still have a lot of work to do,” Harlow said.  

Moses Lake voters are approving a four-year levy after a different proposal was rejected twice in 2024. The rejection came at about the same time as the discovery that accounting errors and incorrect enrollment estimations resulted in draining the district’s reserves.  

Property owners will pay an estimated $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value over the four years, although the tax assessment may change as property values change. That’s an estimated $150 per $100,000 of assessed value. 

The district is also eligible for local effort assistance funding from the state, which is additional money provided to districts that have passed an EP&O levy but have relatively low property values. 

Moses Lake School Board Chair Kirryn Jensen said Tuesday that the vote showed the district is having success in its efforts to earn the trust of the community.  

“This levy is proof that when we listen, adapt and work together, we can achieve incredible things for our students,” wrote MLSD Superintendent Carol Lewis in a statement released Tuesday.  

Ephrata district property owners will pay an estimated $1.85 per $1,000 of assessed property value, or $185 per $100,000 of assessed value, over the four years. In both Ephrata and Moses Lake, the levy will help pay for services that state funding doesn’t cover. That includes extracurricular activities, but also things like maintenance, supplies and staffing. 

Ephrata Superintendent Ken Murray also expressed his thanks to the community Tuesday night. 

“We are incredibly grateful that initial election results indicate the Ephrata community continues to support our students and staff,” Murray said. 

    Mattawa Elementary School students do some fingerpainting. A capital levy request that would repay a loan taken out to upgrade the MES heating and cooling system is passing after updated vote totals were released late last week.