BROOKINGS, Oregon — Early returns showed voters in southern Oregon’s Curry County were rejecting a measure to double their property tax rate to raise $1.6 million a year for three years. The proposal is another of the county’s efforts to keep its jail open.

The initial tally showed a 58 percent “no” vote to a 42 percent “yes” vote.

The special election vote was expected to be unofficially finalized Tuesday night.

Without the money, Sheriff John Bishop said the jail and its staffing are in jeopardy.

Curry is among several timber counties in southwestern Oregon struggling to pay for basic services such as law enforcement as voters refuse to raise their taxes to fill the gap from declining federal timber revenues.

Voters rejected the last several levies that would have paid for the jail. The county has had to tap in to a road fund made available to it and six other financially strapped counties. But that money is only available until 2016.

Now, there is one deputy at a time to patrol the county, and some hours go totally uncovered.

The levy’s proponents have also offered to audit the levy money separately, to show that it is being directed to the Curry County Jail.

Last November, voters in Curry County rejected a $3.2 million public safety tax increase that would have tripled local property taxes to maintain law enforcement services facing cuts as the federal government ends timber subsidies.

Curry County is not the only rural timber county facing a funding crisis. Josephine, Jackson, Douglas, Coos, Klamath and Lane counties have all struggled to keep jails open and law enforcement functioning.