EVERETT — The Edmonds City Council amended its property tax levy lid lift proposal Tuesday to set the levy amount at $14.5 million.
The council is working on a November ballot measure as a step in addressing the city’s $13 million budget deficit.
Last week, the council directed City Attorney Jeff Taraday to draft a resolution for the levy lid lift, but didn’t specify a dollar amount. Taraday will add the $14.5 million to the resolution draft before the council holds a public hearing at next week’s meeting. The council expects to take action on the resolution July 8.
Council President Neil Tibbott proposed the $14.5 million figure as a compromise between a number of proposals the council has seen over the past month, he said. Some council members agreed.
“It still keeps a lot of pressure on council and the administration to find efficiencies and better and different ways of doing business,” council President Pro Tem Susan Paine said, “because it’s probably still millions of dollars shy of what it would really take to run the city at full capacity.”
The council intends to find $5 million in additional revenue, Tibbott said. The council has discussed a number of ideas, including increasing pet license fees, paid parking and traffic cameras.
The $14.5 million figure is more than two times higher than the $6 million levy lid lift assumed in the city’s 2025-26 budget. At $14.5 million, homeowners would pay about $63 more per month, based on Edmonds’ median home value of $840,200.
The amendment passed 5-2 with council members Michelle Dotsch and Will Chen voting against the proposed amount. Dotsch said she would not vote for an amount more than $9 million. Chen said he’d prefer the original $6 million.
“I understand there’s needs and we’ve spent so much time as a city council developing all kinds of scenarios and laying out all those needs,” Chen said. “However, I also think there’s all kinds of pressures coming into our residents at this difficult time.”
The resolution indicates the council’s interest in a permanent, multi-year levy lid lift. State law only allows cities to increase property taxes by 1% or less per year, unless voters approve a higher increase. A multi-year lid lift would allow the council to exceed the 1% cap for up to six years, or 2031. At the end of the six years, the levy could amount to about $17 million, Tibbott said, or $74 per month for the median household.
A permanent lid lift would mean that after the six years, the levy would continue to increase by 1% or less based on the levy amount in 2031. This is different than a temporary lid lift, which would calculate increases after 2031 based on the 2025 amount. This allows the city’s levy to keep pace with inflation, the resolution reads.
The levy lid lift would include exemptions for qualifying low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
In April, Edmonds voters approved annexation into South County Fire, which raised property taxes by about $62 per month for the median household.
Edmonds voters have not approved a levy lid lift since 2001. The last levy lid lift put to voters was in 2011 for a public safety levy, which failed with only 42% of the vote.
On June 3, the council passed a draft resolution declaring the effects on the city if there is no levy lid lift in November. The city would have to completely eliminate its human services department and cultural service program and make significant cuts to a number of city departments, including police, parks and recreation, and community and economic development, among other cuts, the resolution read.
Over the past month, the council has heard several proposals for levy lid lift amounts. On June 3, Mayor Mike Rosen recommended a $19.3 million levy based on recommendations from the community and city staff. He also revealed the staff’s recommendation of $22.3 million and a financial consultant’s $16.5 million recommendation based on the cost of government in comparable cities.
On May 28, Keep Edmonds Vibrant, a community group working to find solutions to the city’s budget crisis, recommended an $11.7 million levy lid lift and $9 million in additional revenue.
“This is a powerful signal that the Council is responsive to the four recommendations given by outside experts, city staff, and citizens (like us!),” Keep Edmonds Vibrant co-founders wrote in a statement Wednesday. “Council recognizes that not all of that burden should fall on residents. It’s a positive stride toward protecting our city’s parks, pools, and public services and creating a sustainable, vibrant future for Edmonds.”
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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