City of Snohomish
Don’t subsidize developers
Red Alert to property taxpayers within the boundaries of Snohomish School District 201.
A few years ago, the Snohomish City Council exempted property taxes on the new construction of multi-family dwelling units in the Pilchuck District.
Now the new council is looking at expanding exemptions to the newly created Midtown District to incentivize developers to build more multi-family units. At the same time, the council is looking at increasing the building height limit from five stories to six stories in the Midtown District.
Property taxes are budget-based, meaning the taxing districts (schools, fire, library, city, etc.) get their budgeted amount of revenue no matter what; whether or not the number of individual taxpayers valuations go up or down. So the more taxes exempted, the more non-exempt taxpayers have to pay so the taxing districts can get their budgeted amount of revenue.
It is blatantly unfair for all of us Snohomish area property taxpayers to subsidize for-profit developers by paying more property taxes. Rich developers are always looking for more “freebies” and a “free lunch” from the government.
Snohomish is not a blighted, decaying city needing tax exemptions for revitalization.
Everyone in the city should play by the same rules on a level playing field.
The Snohomish City Council should put an end to corporate welfare by eliminating these exemptions and certainly not expand it to the Midtown District.
Morgan Davis
Snohomish
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