Second count shows Empire voters rejected sidewalks, drainage plan

A proposal for $4.5 million in sidewalk and drainage improvements was not so popular with Empire folks, after all.

Elizabeth King, clerk of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, said there was a misplaced decimal point on one ballot, which changed the outcome of the Empire property owners’ vote counted last week.

Rather than approving the plan by a 60-to-40 percent margin, as reported by the county last week, Empire voters rejected it. The corrected tally was 47.005 protest votes to 41.930 votes in favor.

The plan had called for building sidewalk, street and drainage improvements in the unincorporated town and annexing 192 lots to a county service area to pay for maintenance.

Deputy Public Works Director David Leamon said an error on a printed ballot was discovered when “quality-control” checking was done after the initial count last Tuesday.

A ballot for the Church of the Brethren had 31.46 weighted votes. It should have read 3.146 votes. The correction lowered the total “yes” vote from 70.244 to 41.930.

The privacy rules for other elections in California are not the same as the rules for Proposition 218 votes.

Leamon said the error was possibly made on a spreadsheet or when the ballots were printed. County Public Works prepared the mail ballots that were sent to affected Empire voters in March.

The county gave one vote apiece to the residential parcels proposed for annexation. The commercial, school and church parcels had more voting power – and would have paid higher assessments – based on the costs of county services for those properties, Leamon said.

County officials worked with Empire residents last year on plans for $4.5 million in improvements, including gutters and French drains to prevent flooding, plus sidewalks along certain streets and a safer railroad crossing for schoolchildren on Second Street. Some residents questioned the need for a roundabout to replace a three-way stop at Third and A streets near Glick Middle School.

To cover the costs of maintenance, residential parcels added to the county service area would have been assessed $84.54 a year. The proposed assessments triggered the Proposition 218 vote under a statewide initiative approved by California voters in 1996.

County staff members are to report the election results to county supervisors May 10.

Leamon said Public Works has not decided what recommendations will be made to the Board of Supervisors on any future improvements in Empire.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Second count shows Empire voters rejected sidewalks, drainage plan."