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Port Orchard council hears strong public opposition to proposed multifamily tax exemption
Summary
City staff presented a proposed multifamily property-tax exemption at the Port Orchard City Council meeting on Oct. 28, and public testimony focused on the potential tax shift to existing property owners and effects on local services.
City staff presented a proposed multifamily property-tax exemption program at the Port Orchard City Council's Oct. 28 meeting and opened a public hearing that drew multiple speakers urging the council not to adopt the measure as drafted.
The MFTE proposal would allow property owners to avoid property tax on the value added by residential development for eight or 12 years (the 20-year option is not available to Port Orchard, staff said). The 12-year option would require 20% of units in a project to be rented at reduced rates below published HUD fair market rents; the draft ordinance proposes 25% below HUD FMR for those units but the Kitsap Home Builders Association told staff that target may be too deep and urged lowering it to 20%.
Staff emphasized that the program is discretionary: state law authorizes cities to adopt MFTEs but does not require them. City staff presented eligibility criteria…
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