Josephine County voters approved a levy to bolster funding for public services Tuesday breaking a drought of unsuccessful attempts to aid an ailing public safety system after federal timber subsidies began to dry up at the turn of the decade.

Five separate attempts at funding a depleted sheriff's office failed at the polls from 2012 to 2016, according to county records. As of midnight, the new measure had a 1,100-vote lead — at this stage, county officials say, ballot totals may sway one way or the other by a few dozen, but rarely more than 100.

County Commissioner Simon Hare told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the focused nature of the public safety levy — asking for money specifically to re-open the juvenile detention center and accommodate more jail beds — largely contributed to its success.

The Josephine County Jail has a 262-bed capacity but funding only allows for the use of 130. Levy funds will help open the remaining 132.

The juvenile detention center has capacity for 14. The county's juvenile department currently rents three beds from Douglas County.

"We didn't ask for the world, just what we really needed," Hare said when reached by phone.

Hare also said the fact county officials asked for a raise in property taxes of less than $1 — 93 cents, to be precise — also helped. In 2013, voters rejected a levy that would raise taxes by $1.48 of assessed value and, in addition to jail beds and juvenile detention, would have hired more sheriff's deputies and funded a school security program.

The lack of patrols — late at night, two or three Oregon State Police troopers are responsible for keeping track of the county's sprawling rural roads — often drew national media attention. And over the last few years, citizen patrol groups began sprouting up in far-flung communities like Cave Junction.

(In Grants Pass, the county seat, municipal taxes fund round-the-clock police patrols.)

Hare partly credits the ballot measure's precise language and an energetic board of commissioners for the levy's passing.

"And the new economy was no small matter," he said. "Of all the campaigns I've been involved in, everything went the way it was supposed to (this time.)"

In addition to the public safety levy, Josephine County voters also:

-Renewed a levy for animal control and the county shelter of 8 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

-Approved a five-year levy to hire firefighters and EMTs to serve Illinois Valley residents, a 144-square mile jurisdiction.

-Formed and funded library districts in the following precincts: The Illinois Valley, Williams, Wolf Creek, Grants Pass and Cave Junction.

-Renewed another four-year tax to fund operations in the Wolf Creek Rural Fire Protection District.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com