Grays Harbor Fire District 1 says its Proposition 1 — a measure that would let the district collect additional property-tax revenue for fire services — was mistakenly left off the November ballot entirely. The district says the omission traces back to an error within the Grays Harbor County elections department, not anything within its own control, and officials are now working to determine their next steps.
The fire district's statement, reported by KIRO 7 News, lands amid a broader pattern of mistakes coming out of the Grays Harbor County Auditor's Office this election cycle. According to The Daily World, the fire district's missing proposition was just one piece of a wider set of errors in the October ballot distribution, which also left Timberland Regional Library's levy measure off Hoquiam ballots and printed an incorrect levy rate increase in Montesano's voters' pamphlet.
A Levy Rate Mix-Up in the Pamphlet
Separately from the ballot omission, officials issued a correction after the voters' pamphlet misstated how much Fire District 1's levy would actually increase. The pamphlet said the rate would climb by 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, but the real jump is closer to $1.52 per $1,000 — moving the rate from about $1.70 today to a proposed $3.22 per $1,000 in 2027, per KIRO 7's reporting. The official ballot itself contained the correct figures; only the pamphlet language was wrong.
The city's mayor and city attorney confirmed the pamphlet included the incorrect wording by mistake. The mayor said the pamphlet had been prepared back in June and was already printed and mailed by the time anyone caught the error, leaving no way to fix it before voters received their copies.
Not an Isolated Glitch
The fire district's situation mirrors what happened in Hoquiam, where Timberland Regional Library's levy lid lift also disappeared from ballots. In response, the county auditor's office scheduled supplemental ballots to be mailed early this week, instructing affected voters to return them by 8 p.m. on November 3, according to Timberland Regional Library. It remains an open question whether Oakville-area voters in Fire District 1 will receive a similar supplemental ballot remedy.
Timberland Regional Library, which depends on local property taxes for 93.7% of its operational funding, had submitted a $0.35 per $1,000 levy lid lift across five Southwest Washington counties — Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston — to address an ongoing budget deficit, the paper notes.
Why Fire Districts Need Voter Approval to Raise Levies
Washington law caps annual property tax revenue increases for regular taxing districts at just 1% a year unless voters explicitly approve a levy lid lift, under RCW 84.55.010 and RCW 84.55.050, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center. That statutory cap is why fire districts like Grays Harbor Fire District 1 periodically have to ask voters directly for permission to raise rates beyond the limit.
Rising property values can put downward pressure on allowable levy rates, while costs may rise faster than the 1% annual limit.
Added Scrutiny on County Election Administration
The ballot errors arrive as the county auditor's office is already facing scrutiny over its record-keeping. In July 2026, a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled that Grays Harbor County had committed multiple violations of the state's Public Records Act during litigation over candidate ballot ordering in the 2023 Ocean Shores mayoral race, issuing $68,000 in penalties and sharply criticizing top election officials, as reported by GoGraysHarbor.
The office's leadership is also set to change hands. Democrat Brielle S. Joyce and Republican Charlee Paull are facing off in the November 3 general election for the county auditor seat, according to Ballotpedia. Washington lawmakers, meanwhile, recently gave taxing districts more flexibility on the funding side: House Bill 2442, effective July 1, 2026, extended the maximum duration of multi-year levy lid lifts from six years up to 10, per the Municipal Research and Services Center.
