The dust from the recent election has settled, and it’s clear that Enumclaw and Black Diamond continue to have little interest in tax increases.
But in an election precinct analysis, a major lack of support in rural Enumclaw may be the biggest contributing factor to why the proposed Enumclaw School District levy failed by 775 votes.
The Courier-Herald examines election precinct data after the ballots are all counted and the election certified to track any possible changes to the local political realm.
Here’s the bottom line up front.
The Plateau has again clearly stated that it will not support any additional tax increases.
However, the voters in the Ten Trails neighborhood in Black Diamond — a growing voting bloc — supported both the ESD’s levy and King County’s Prop. 1, which supports an automatic fingerprint identification system via a levy of 2.75 cents per $1,000 APV.
About 35% of all voters in Black Diamond for this election live in Ten Trails. As the city continues to grow, this may be signaling a political shift — one toward a more favorable attitude toward small tax increases.
Support for both levies was difficult to find in Enumclaw, which rejected both. The lack of support for King County’s Prop. 1 may be surprising for some, given the community’s historical support of first responders; the only tax increase the city has approved of (and passed) in recent years was a levy lid lift for the Enumclaw Fire Department back in 2022 by a wide margin.
The disapproval of the county’s levy may be signaling that the Enumclaw community has reached a point where even a small tax increase of any sort is too much. This may be trouble down the line for the Enumclaw School District and its upcoming levy renewals.
ESD’S PROP. 1
ESD’s Proposition 1 proposed a new property tax of 35 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value to address “critical maintenance” across the district.
Voters rejected the tax by about 10 points — 45.3% approved the levy, and 54.5% opposed.
Close to 9,000 voters participated in the election, roughly 38% of the total 22,400 registered voters in the area.
While the levy failed, support for the school district has grown over the last several elections.
Back in February 2023, a proposed $253 million bond was rejected by 75% of the population — a historic loss for the district — and all but two precincts in Black Diamond were a majority of “no” votes. (These were in Ten Trails.)
A second bond measure for $103 million on the November 2023 ballot failed by 36 points, and this time, no precinct had a majority of “yes” votes.
This time around, there were pockets of support.
Perhaps most surprisingly was the support from Black Diamond — 62% of residents inside city limits voted to approve the levy measure, despite the fact that none of the proposed maintenance projects would have affected Black Diamond Elementary.
“Yes” votes came in at 770, and “no” votes at 472.
It appears the Ten Trails neighborhood contributed heavily to the support of the levy, with 400 of its 569 voters having supported the levy.
The roughly 1,250 Black Diamond voters that participated in the election are just a quarter of registered voters in the area.
However, the unpopularity of the levy in unincorporated Black Diamond negated that lead; in the precincts around the city, there were 540 “no” votes to the 281 “yes” votes.
While Enumclaw proper ultimately rejected the levy, it was a close call, with 1,825 “no” votes to 1,733 “yes” votes.
The precincts that supported the levy are neighbors Enumclaw High School and the district offices.
It was in unincorporated Enumclaw where the levy seems to have been sunk, where “no” votes came in at 1,787 and “yes” votes at 1,065.
In general, the whole Black Diamond area supported the levy — though by less than 2 points.
And the whole Enumclaw area rejected the measure by 12 points.
KING COUNTY PROP. 1
Just focusing on voters inside city limits, Black Diamond voters approved of King County’s Prop. 1.
There were 905 “yes” votes to the 770 “no” votes.
It was again the Ten Trails neighborhood’s support for the levy that put the “yes” votes ahead.
Enumclaw did not support this levy, 1,848 “no” votes to the 1,652 “yes” votes.
Black Diamond precincts 05-3849 and 05-3976 heavily supported the Enumclaw School District levy. Nearly 35% of all voters in Black Diamond came from Ten Trails for this election. Image courtesy King County
