Voters were approving a proposed property tax levy by Sno-Isle Libraries.

According to early vote tallies, the measure was passing with just over the 50-percent mark in Island and Snohomish counties.

Library officials said the tax increase was needed to overcome a $2.5 million shortfall.

“We’re hoping it will continue to trend in this direction,” Library Director Jonalyn Woolf-Ivory said of Tuesday night’s vote count. “I guess we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

She said she hopes the voting will follow the pattern of previous elections, in which the favorable response continued to build.

“It’s a good sign we’re sitting where we are right now,” she said.

She said library staff attended more than 200 community meetings in Island and Snohomish counties to get the word out on the situation the library system is facing.

“They were making calls up to late last night,” Woolf-Ivory said of the campaign committee. “I really think they did all that they could do.”

The ballot proposal would increase the library’s levy by 9 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, raising it from 31 cents to 40 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

For the owner of a $300,000 home, the increase would amount to an additional $27 a year in new property taxes.

In other ballot measures, Island County voters were rejecting Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033, a proposal to cap government revenue, with a 52 percent “no” vote. It was falling statewide with a 56-percent rejection rate.

Island County voters were also approving Referendum 71, the domestic partners law, with a 53-percent approval vote.

Statewide, it was being approved with a 52 percent “yes” vote.