By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch It's official. Graham Fire and Rescue will get the taxpayer support it asked for in the general election. Results of voting that ended Nov. 4 were certified last week by the Pierce County auditor's elections department, confirming that the fire district's maintenance and operations levy passed with 60.4 percent of the ballots in its favor. A minimum of 60 percent was required for approval. The $11 million levy is to be collected over four years, beginning in 2015, at a rate of 60 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Approximately $2.7 million in collections per year will allow the district to hire more personnel and reverse cuts in service, including full or partial closures of two fire stations that were made after the levy failed on its first attempt. Voters rejected the proposal in the primary election last August. The Graham levy was the only close outcome in the general election in races involving voters in south Pierce County. All other results that were certified Nov. 25 GÇô the defeat of a public safety levy in the town of Eatonville, the retention of U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and state Reps. J.T. Wilcox and Graham Hunt, and the election of Jeanette Lineberry as a District Court judge GÇô were never in doubt once the elections department began posting results. A County Council race in the west area of the county went last week to a mandatory recount after Derek Young finished 93 votes ahead of incumbent Stan Flemming. All other county offices on the ballot had incumbents running unopposed. They included Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist and Auditor Julie Anderson. The total turnout countywide was 49.9 percent. Of the 441,987 voters who were issued ballots, 221,982 voted. The countywide percentage was topped in Eatonville, where 54 percent of the town's voters cast ballots. The turnout among Graham Fire voters was 46 percent.
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