St. Johns County voters approved two school tax referendums, one to help raise teacher pay and another to help build and maintain facilities.

The half-cent sales tax, first passed in 2015, is set to expire soon. It will keep the county sales tax at 6.5 percent for 10 years and will be used to build new facilities and help maintain and upgrade existing ones. It was adopted with just over 60% of the vote.

Also included on the ballot was an additional property tax of one mill, or $100 per $100,000 of assessed property value. This tax will be used to increase the pay of teachers in the district. It was adopted with 68% of the votes.

The tax will last for five years. The St. Johns County School Board has described the sales tax as necessary to meet the growing needs of the county’s growing population, touting a slogan “Two votes, one decision for our students” on the St. Johns County School District Website.

Here is an overview of other major local races:

St. Johns County Sheriff

Sheriff Robert Hardwick is elected to a second term as the 28th sheriff of St. Johns County.

Hardwick: Election Day 31,556; first voters 97,000; postal vote 23,654; for a total vote of 152,210 for a winning percentage of 96.88%.

County Commission, District 1

Christian Whitehurstthe outgoing District 1 commissioner, retained his seat.

Whitehurst: Election Day votes at 29,623; early votes at 89,992; vote by post at 21 148; total of 140,763 votes for a winning percentage of 95.31%.

Whitehurst told the St. Augustine Record he was honored to be elected to a second term as a county commissioner.

“I look forward to continuing to invest in public safety, transportation infrastructure, conservation and projects that improve our quality of life,” he told the St. Augustine Record. “Thank you to the residents for putting their trust in me for another four years.”

County Commission, District 3

Clay Murphy: Election Day votes at 30,247; early votes at 92,983; vote by mail at 21,974 for a total vote count of 145,204 for a winning percentage of 97.10%.

“Now is the time to take care of the people’s business,” Murphy told the St. Augustine Record. “I am so excited to be a part of this county government and the people who make this such a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family.”

County Commission, District 5

Ann Taylor: Election Day votes at 27,283; early votes at 85,725; vote by post at 19 154; for a total of 132,162 votes for a percentage of 79.09%.

District 5 School Board

• Linda Thomson: On election day, 2,576 votes; early votes at 9,660; vote by post at 2.902; for a total vote of 14,352 with a winning percentage of 50.95%.

• Béthanie Hilbert: On election day, 2,938 votes; early votes at 8,512; postal vote at 2,902, total votes at 14,352 for a percentage of 49.05%.

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St. Johns County Participation

According to the Election Supervisor website, county-wide turn out For the Nov. 5 general election in St. Johns County, there are 35,729 absentee ballots, 118,990 early ballots and 44,410 Election Day ballots, including 227 provisional ballots.

The number of active eligible voters was 230,160; the unofficial turnout was 199,356, bringing the turnout percentage to 86.62%. Democrats had 44,366, Republicans 113,940, those with no party affiliation 37,994 and others 5,056.

This article was originally published on St. Augustine Record: St. Johns County passes two referendums on school taxes