NITRO, W.Va. -- The future of Nitro's excess levy is in doubt after election officials discovered some incorrectly recorded votes from Saturday's levy election.

"It needed 60 percent to pass," Mayor Rusty Casto said today. "Right now, it's looking like it failed by about six votes."

After unofficial results were tallied for the Saturday election, it looked like the levy squeaked by with a vote of 305 for the levy to 213 against. But Casto said today that incorrectly tabulated results from one city precinct may have thrown the count off by just enough for the levy to fail to reach the 60 percent majority required for passage.

Casto said city officials may not know the final vote count until an official vote canvass on Friday.

The levy, in place almost continuously since 1932, provides about $369,000 a year of the city's $5 million budget. Money from the levy helps pay for police and firefighter salaries, street maintenance and repairs, parks and recreation, streetlights, the city library and city fire hydrants.

If it is confirmed Friday that the levy didn't pull in a 60 percent majority, "I don't know if there's time to put it back on the ballot or not," Casto said.

The levy failed in 2000, and was not put back up for a public vote until the following year. City officials could put the levy back up for a vote in 2009, "But that's still a year without the levy," Casto said.

City officials recently dug themselves out of a financial crunch that temporarily left the city with a deficit approaching $1 million. Failure of the levy will likely mean across-the-board budget cuts in city government.

Reach Rusty Marks at rustyma...@wvgazette.com or 348-1215.

NITRO, W.Va. -- The future of Nitro's excess levy is in doubt after election officials discovered some incorrectly recorded votes from Saturday's levy election.

"It needed 60 percent to pass," Mayor Rusty Casto said today. "Right now, it's looking like it failed by about six votes."

After unofficial results were tallied for the Saturday election, it looked like the levy squeaked by with a vote of 305 for the levy to 213 against. But Casto said today that incorrectly tabulated results from one city precinct may have thrown the count off by just enough for the levy to fail to reach the 60 percent majority required for passage.

Casto said city officials may not know the final vote count until an official vote canvass on Friday.

The levy, in place almost continuously since 1932, provides about $369,000 a year of the city's $5 million budget. Money from the levy helps pay for police and firefighter salaries, street maintenance and repairs, parks and recreation, streetlights, the city library and city fire hydrants.

If it is confirmed Friday that the levy didn't pull in a 60 percent majority, "I don't know if there's time to put it back on the ballot or not," Casto said.

The levy failed in 2000, and was not put back up for a public vote until the following year. City officials could put the levy back up for a vote in 2009, "But that's still a year without the levy," Casto said.

City officials recently dug themselves out of a financial crunch that temporarily left the city with a deficit approaching $1 million. Failure of the levy will likely mean across-the-board budget cuts in city government.

Reach Rusty Marks at rustyma...@wvgazette.com or 348-1215.