For the second time in less than a year, San Juan Island hospital district voters said “Uh-uh” on a property tax hike for emergency medical services.

This time around, however, voters’ rejection of another proposed 15-cent increase proved slightly more emphatic.

With 3,085 ballots tallied on the Nov. 4 election night, or 53 percent of the district’s 5,774 registered voters, “No” votes outnumbered “Yes” votes  1,501 to 1,439, or 51 percent to 49 percent (145 voters failed to cast a vote on the measure).

In February, a similar proposal, which would have raised the EMS levy by 15 cents per $1,000 of property value and made that tax hike permanent, gained 55 percent of votes cast in that election.

In the run-up to the election, critics pointed to a jump in overall income, from $2.4 million in 2011 to $3.8 million in 2013, and in expenditures, nearly $2 million in 2011 versus $3.4 million in 2013, as well as an end-of-the year cash reserve of roughly half-a-million in each of the past three years, as evidence that the agency ought to be able to get by without more from property owners.

Proponents pointed to the steady decrease in the amount of revenue raised by the levy in the past three years, due to an unanticipated drop in property values, and to a sharp drop in medical insurance reimbursement payments as proof that the agency will be unable to provide the same level of service without additional revenue. Cuts in pay and unpaid furloughs were implemented in mid-year by the hospital district commission to help EMS contain costs.

The EMS property tax levy, currently in the fourth year of a six-year levy, is slated to expire in 2016 unless renewed by voters.