PRINCETON, W.Va. — Voters in both Mercer and Ritchie counties renewed school system excess levies in countywide elections held Saturday.
In Mercer County, voters renewed a five-year excess by a nearly two-to-one margin, 3,161 for the levy and 1,648 against. The excess levy provides the school system approximately $13 million a year.
Ritchie County voters renewed the county’s $5.8 million annual excess levy by a vote of 1,038 to 175.
Voters in Boone County also overwhelmingly approved renewal of a levy which has been in place since 1947. Eighty-five percent of those who cast a ballot in Boone County voted for the levy. The levy is critical for the Boone County school system which has been on hard times for several years after the downturn in the coal industry.
The excess levies for both counties begin next July.