Everett Finance Director Heide Brillantes, assistant finance manager Jamielynn Graves and, at right, city head of communications Simone Tarver, present information about the Everett Levy Lid Lift proposition July 9, 2024 in a conference room inside the downtown Everett library.
Photo by Michael Whitney.
EVERETT — The city is asking voters to permanently increase the city property tax rate to maintain public services in the budget.
It asks for a levy lid lift to set next year’s city property tax rate at $2.19 per $1,000 in assessed value which in other words would increase the rate by 67 cents over the current rate.
Ballots for the August election begin arriving in mailboxes near the end of this week. Ballots are due Aug. 6 for voters to turn them in.
For the owner of a $500,000 home, the measure asks to increase the city portion of taxes by $348 a year, or by about $29 per month.
For renters, city officials have said landlords are anticipated to pass the cost along as a rent increase.
The city is using a monthly figure in its information materials because mortgages are structured to have a homeowner pay property taxes into escrow in payments of one-twelfth of a year, city spokeswoman Simone Tarver said.
Since 2001, governments have been limited by law to take no more than a 1% increase without going to voters.
The city has two future information sessions about the measure:
• Saturday, July 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Evergreen Branch of the Everett Public Library, Meeting Room A, 9512 Evergreen Way
• Tuesday, July 30, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Everett Station in the Weyerhaeuser Room (4th floor), 3201 Smith Ave.
Property taxes in relation to the budget
Property taxes bring in about 35% of the budget. Sales taxes, another 34%.
Everett has had a structural deficit, where the expense of running the city outpaces its tax revenues, for more than 10 years which grows annually.
The city made at least three waves of cuts in the past 10 years, and made cuts and deferred certain types of expenditures annually for more than 10 years.
In the past 15 years, it added a $20 car tab fee, maxed out its local sales tax rate, and added false alarm fees.
This section of the city budget doesn’t include Everett Transit, public utilities, or the golf course operations. Those have budgets of their own with separate funding sources. The property tax measure would not, and cannot, put money toward these areas, either.
For more than three years, Mayor Cassie Franklin has publicly discussed having a measure to ask voters whether to increase property taxes to preserve city services.
This year, she asked. The City Council approved placing the measure on August ballots in a 6-1 vote. Councilwoman Judy Tuohy voted no; Tuohy said she is concerned increasing taxes may hurt Everett’s residents who pay rent.
By the numbers
Everett’s city levy rate today is $1.52 per $1,000 in assessed value and generates about $40 million a year. (It also has a 50-cent EMS levy.)
Setting the property tax rate at $2.19 per $1,000 would generate about $58 million in 2025.
If Proposition 1 doesn’t pass, the city would have a projected $12.6 million deficit for 2025 as of April figures.
The city says if Proposition 1 doesn’t pass it would need to make budget cuts of at least that much because it must legally produce a balanced budget by Dec. 31 each year. Department directors and the mayor would decide where those cuts would come from, and the City Council can tweak the budget.
If it passes, what Everett says it will do
If Proposition 1 passes, it is projected the additional revenue will give Everett enough money to sustain itself until 2028 without cutting into its budget. The structural deficit would again exceed revenues in 2028.
Everett City Hall says if Prop. 1 passes, it would also consider adding back library hours, restoring positions in its neighborhood services department and possibly exploring how to re-open the Forest Park Pool. The pool plan would use a public-private partnership where the city continues owning the pool but a private entity would operate it.
It would plan to spread tax revenue by parity to how the current budget is divided by department, Tarver with the city said.
The pool and the Carl Gipson Senior Center were closed in 2020 among $13 million in budget chops in reaction to the COVID pandemic lockdowns suddenly wiping millions of expected sales tax revenue from the budget. The senior center reopened under a public-private partnership. The city is paying the Volunteers of America (VOA) an annual fee to run the center; this fee is gradually decreasing every year with the expectation VOA can make the Gipson Center self-sustaining with the city as landlord.
What people say
Opponents say the city could spend less.
Joel Norris, who helped write the “con” statement for the ballot measure, is one.
“They need to take a much closer look at what they’re spending on and do what we’ve all been doing these last four years and tighten their belts,” Norris said last week.
He is bothered that certain departments within the city have grown in recent years. Two examples are added people in the mayor’s cabinet and a 150% increase in the communications and engagement department.
Meanwhile, for example, the city library system reduced its open hours starting in 2023.
Formally, the city increased its number of employees from 2014 to 2024 by about one person per year.
The city says this is because the population is growing. There are now 6.4 staff members per 1,000 Everett residents, assistant finance director Jamielynn Graves said. The ratio is down from 2017.
A group for Everett Proposition 1, called Lift Up Everett, is placing teal signs around to vote yes.
“By supporting Proposition 1, you are protecting our police officers, firefighters, libraries, parks, street maintenance, our animal shelter, free community events, the hot meal program, and many other essential services provided by the City of Everett,” the Lift Up Everett campaign said in a press release statement.
Lift Up committee member Rod Sniffen said police and fire were mentioned because “the police and fire departments are part of the City of Everett, so they would be impacted if more significant cuts were made to city departments. The impacts could range from delayed hiring processes to increased call loads.”
Sniffen said its campaign committee includes elected officials working the campaign during their personal time, including Mayor Cassie Franklin and council members Paula Rhyne and Scott Bader, as well as the city’s government affairs director, its community development director, its lead communications point of contact for media inquiries, an assistant parks manager and Sniffen himself, who is a prior career member of the Everett Police Department.
Backing the group is the AFSCME labor union of municipal employees and other employee union groups.
What about other routes?
Other options that have been discussed such as handing the city library system to the regional Sno-Isle Libraries or restructuring the Everett Fire Department into a Regional Fire Authority. The city missed the timing window for a 2024 ballot measure for Everett’s library system to join Sno-Isle Libraries.
Merging fire agencies would require more than a year of preparation lead time to initiate. Either of those options would also require voter approval.
The city has no “banked capacity” to raise property taxes above 1% by council decision, Tarver said.
When a City Council skips on taking an annual 1% property tax increase, it becomes “banked” as unused capacity. A future City Council can decide to charge this without a vote of the people.
July 9 meeting
The city held an information session July 9 in the downtown library which about 20 residents attended.
City officials answered questions such as why it can’t raise the sales tax instead — because it’s maxed out — and on employee counts.
Some questioned city priorities. One homeowner said they’re bothered by the city spending money on decorative art at bus stops, and that “our social services are out of control.”
David Rash is concerned Everett has many more employees than comparable cities of Everett’s size. Everett has 1,211 people on its payroll. Some, such as Renton, have one-fourth less. Federal Way’s City Hall employs even fewer.
Those other cities are not “full-service” cities with their own city fire department, city library system or other services, Tarver with the city said.
“When looking at other cities, look at what they offer versus Everett,” Dan Templeman of the mayor’s office said. “Residents say they love that Everett has these services.”
Rash did not share how he’ll ultimately vote.
More information
Slides from the city’s July 9 presentation are available at www.everettwa.gov/prop1
