Everett boasts a beautiful parks system, a local transit system, a library system, top-notch streets and traffic management, fire and emergency medical services, and has one of the best law enforcement agencies in Washington state. Everett also provides clean water from Spada Lake to over 600,000 residents of Snohomish County. No other city in Snohomish County provides such a broad range of services to the community.
The 1 percent property tax cap in the state has had significant impacts on cities. The 1 percent cap on annual property tax increases, in place for more than a generation, has strained many city budgets. It has created a structural deficit in city revenue and expenditure models, leading to artificial restrictions on the use of property taxes to fund community needs.
Cities can address the revenue shortfall due to the 1 percent property tax cap in several ways. Everett is proposing the levy lid lift option. This is a more transparent option for voters than the alternative of creating a separate district for services.
Counter intuitively, many state taxpayers are paying higher property taxes due to the 1 percent property tax cap. Creating separate districts can potentially increase taxes on property owners. Separate districts levy their own taxes and are not subject to the same property tax cap restrictions.
Proposition 1 will address these artificial restrictions by raising revenue to fund public safety and essential public services while retaining oversight and accountability for the services.
Proposition 1 is good for Everett.
Steven L. Hellyer
Marysville
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
