UPDATE: Shoreline Proposition 1 is Passing Handily

UPDATE: With 16,935 votes counted as of Wednesday evening, Prop. 1 continues to lead by a big margin.

King County election results show that 70.07 of voters, a total of 11,868 so far, approve authorizing the city to move forward in acquiring the Seattle Public Utilities' water system west of I-5.

Only 29.92 of voters or 5,067 tallied so far want to reject the measure a very small increase from Tuesday night.

The proposed acquistion, which had clear support this past summer according to a city survey, is far from a done deal yet and negotiations with the City of Seattle and Seattle City Council will continue.

Look to Patch for more coverage of the issue in the coming days. Please post any questions you have and we'll try to get them answered.

Original story:

Early returns show that voters in Shoreline are approving Proposition No. 1 which would authorize the City's acquisition of Seattle water services in Shoreline.

With more than 15,000 ballots counted, 70.12 percent of the voters are approving Proposition 1 and 29.87 percent are voting to reject it. 

Mayor Keith McGlashan said he was hoping to get 60 percent of the vote so the early returns were validating for the Council who all supported the proposition.

"It shows people are excited about what's going on in the city and they want to control their own destiny," McGlashan said. 

"They want to be independent," he added, and referred to the vote in 1994 to incorporate as a city.

The next step is to get an agreement with the Seattle City Council, he said. 

This past summer, the Shoreline City Council passed Ordinance No. 644 concerning the City of Shoreline’s acquisition and operation of water services of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) within Shoreline west of Interstate 5.

With voter approval, the Ordinance authorizes Shoreline to acquire SPU water services in Shoreline without increasing projected rates. The $26.6 million acquisition in 2020 and $14.2 million in pre-acquisition improvements (without adjustment for inflation) would be financed by water rates in Shoreline’s new service area. The Ordinance would remove the current surcharge and utility tax paid by Shoreline customers to Seattle. Shoreline local control of rates, upgrades, and water supply for firefighting would replace Seattle control.

Critcs charge that there are too many financial questions that remain unanswered about the acquisition, and question the Seattle City Council's intent to sell the system to Shoreline. 

Related Coverage:

Washington Election Results 2012