Curley: No council member wants to be the one who raises property taxes

The option to assess a one percent property tax on the citizens of Sammamish was available every year to then-city council member John Curley. And every year, he and the other council members chose to “bank it.”

The reason, he said, is it’s easier to put aside money than introduce another new tax, especially when newcomers to the city were already filling the coffers with a 15 percent impact fee on new houses.

“The cash was just rolling in because (of) the development,” Curley said Monday. “We didn’t need to stick anybody with an additional property tax. We just kept banking it. And nobody wanted to raise taxes. You didn’t want to be the guy that voted for raising property taxes.”

As November approaches and Seattleites must again decide how much they are willing to tax homeowners, Tom and Curley discussed whether residents are gouging themselves.

According to The Seattle Times’ FYI Guy, Seattle ranks sixth among big cities in the median amount paid in property taxes. According to recently released data from the Census Bureau, the $4,022 figure is an $808 increase, or 25.1 percent, since 2005. Seattle’s infamous step-brother, San Francisco, sits at the top of the list, with a median $5,770 tax, an 82.6 percent increase since 2005.

The FYI Guy wrote that a main driver for the increase is a host of voter-approved property-tax levies over the past few years. The $930 million Move Seattle transportation package on the November ballot is the biggest yet. The city says the levy would cost $275 a year for the owner of a $450,000 home.

According to the Times, a study by the Washington D.C. city government found that Seattle ranks 38th in terms of property tax rate, meaning homeowners aren’t being gouged by an excessively high rate, but are suffering because Seattle home values are so high.

“The problem is we are living in houses that we couldn’t afford 20 or 30 years ago,” Tom said.

According to the Census, Seattle’s median home value in 2014 was $473,300. Thanks a lot, council member Curley.