Creston, Newport School Levies Pass, But Hospital Bond Just Shy

Two school levies apparently were approved Tuesday in Lincoln and Pend Oreille counties, but a hospital bond measure will need help from absentee voters if it is to pass.

In Lincoln County, Creston School District voters approved a one-year, $152,000 operating levy with 67.4 percent support, 304-147.

But voters in Hospital District 3, based in Davenport, gave only 59.1 percent support to a $2 million bond measure to build a 25-unit assisted-living apartment complex for senior citizens.

Bond measures and special levies require 60 percent support to pass, and the bond measure is close enough that absentee ballots could change the outcome in the hospital election. As many as 718 absentee ballots could still be returned.

In Pend Oreille County, a two-year Newport School District operating levy apparently passed with 61.2 percent support, 1,074-680. The number of outstanding absentee ballots was not available. The levy would collect $372,000 in 1998 and $389,000 in 1999.

The Newport and Creston levies both failed in February.

, DataTimes