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Dark Horse road district tax increase fails after property-owner ballot tabulation
Summary
A petition to add a 4% annual inflation adjustment (20-year sunset) to the Dark Horse Permanent Road Division parcel tax did not reach the required two-thirds approval in a mailed ballot tally; the measure failed after a count of returned ballots showed 41 yes and 33 no.
Property owners in the Dark Horse Permanent Road Division voted this morning on a proposal to increase the district’s parcel assessment by adding an automatic 4% annual inflation adjustment with a 20‑year sunset. After a public hearing and in-chambers tabulation of returned ballots, county officials announced the measure failed to reach the two‑thirds approval threshold required for assessments of this type.
Key details and background: The Dark Horse Permanent Road Division (PRD) was formed in 2002 to fund road maintenance in a subdivision that is not entirely within county-maintained mileage. The PRD contains 228 parcels according to staff. Current annual parcel charges are approximately $300 (as described by county staff). Property owners circulated a petition asking that a 4% inflation factor be applied annually to preserve road maintenance levels.
Ballot process and results: County staff sent ballots and notices to all affected property owners, allowing returns by mail or drop-off at the courthouse. After opening and counting ballots in public before the board, the clerk reported a total of 41 yes votes and 33 no votes. That 55% yes share did not meet the required two-thirds threshold, so the proposed adjustment failed and will not be implemented.
Why it matters: PRD assessments are an important local funding mechanism to preserve road condition where county maintenance mileage or funding is limited. Failure of the measure means the division will continue at current parcel charges; any future effort to raise revenues would require a renewed outreach and balloting process.
What officials said: Patrick Perkins, principal engineer, and Eli Larimar, assistant engineer, presented the item and managed the ballot opening and tabulation. Larimar described the PRD purpose and the order of operations for tabulating ballots, explaining the public-counting process used for contested local assessments.
Ending: Because the measure did not reach the two-thirds majority required for the ballot measure to pass, no adjustment will be applied to the Dark Horse PRD parcel charges at this time. County staff noted ballots without legible parcel identifiers were set aside during the count and discussed administrative follow-up procedures.
Note on transparency: The board held the ballot tabulation in public session, read ballots aloud and explained set-aside ballots and duplicated or illegible returns during the process.
