Will property taxes jump in Pierce County city with 2nd-lowest rate? Early results are in
Early election results Tuesday night show a proposal to increase property taxes in the city of Edgewood has failed.
The measure would have raised the city’s property tax rate to $1.28 per $1,000 of assessed value. That would have been an increase of about $30 a month for the owner of a $625,000 home, Mayor Dave Olson has said.
So far, 1,957 votes (37 percent) are to approve the levy lid lift, and 3,270 (63 percent) are to reject it. Turnout is at 59 percent, according to the Pierce County Auditor’s Office. The next batch of results is expected to drop at 6 p.m. Nov. 6, but Olson said Tuesday night that there’s not enough ballots left for the measure to pass. Maybe another 1,500 will come in, he said.
“There’s definitely not enough,” he said. “It won’t make any difference.”
The levy lid lift would have been the first in the city’s 28-year history. It needed a simple majority to pass.
Edgewood’s property tax rate is the second-lowest of the 23 cities and towns in Pierce County. Only Carbonado’s is lower. If the levy lid lift passed, Edgewood would have jumped to ninth on that list.
“I think the citizens of Edgewood love our city, and they love where they live,” Olson said. “I think they’re just tapped out financially. We had a school district levy that passed earlier this year and a fire district levy that also passed. So this would have been the third property tax increase, and I think they just kind of said: ‘Sorry, but enough is enough.’”
Like other local cities dealing with increased costs for wages and benefits and decreased revenue from development, Edgewood is facing a budget deficit.
“We have about $9 million in annual revenue and about $10 million in expenses this year and next,” Olson told The News Tribune last month.
He said the city of 14,000 has 11 police officers now, and that they planned to have 12 if the measure passed. If it failed, they planned to go down to 10. Edgewood contracts with Pierce County to provide sheriff’s deputies as officers. After salaries, benefits, equipment and other costs, cutting back to 10 officers would save $500,000, the city has said. Having 12 officers would have allowed the city to have two officers on duty 24/7.
Asked Tuesday night about the plan to cut officers, Olson told The News Tribune that it’s ultimately a decision for the city council.
“That will be the starting point, and I expect that to be supported by the council,” he said.
Olson also previously told The News Tribune that there are five vacant positions in the city, and that some employees are doing two jobs after the city put a pause on hiring to limit expenses. For example, the public works director is doing double duty as the city engineer. The mayor has said hiring a city engineer would have been among the priorities if the levy lid lift passed.
“The city council is aware that their primary obligation is to be good stewards with the city’s, the public’s money,” he said Tuesday night. “With their taxes. And tonight’s result doesn’t change any of that. We still have an obligation to be good stewards with their money and we will continue to do so. We will do what we have to do in regards to staffing for police levels and we will kind of exhaust every option available to make sure that we provide as much public safety as possible for the citizens that they deserve and expect.”
Asked about the possibility that voters will see the levy lid lift on another ballot next year, Olson said it’s doubtful.
“I think the citizens have spoken pretty clearly, so I don’t foresee another vote going out anytime in the near future,” he said. “I think we have to respect what the citizens have told us.”
News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 8:38 PM.
