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Lake Stevens holds property‑tax hearing and approves levy; council approves first reading of 2026 budget
Summary
City staff told council the 2026 levy amount is about $6.7 million with an estimated levy rate near $0.69 per $1,000; council adopted the levy ordinance and approved the first reading of the 2026 budget, with two councilmembers recorded as opposing the first reading.
Lake Stevens finance staff presented the city’s 2026 property‑tax hearing and the first public reading of the 2026 budget on Nov. 18. Barb (finance staff) told council that assessed values in the city rose about 5.5% year‑over‑year and that the implicit price deflator for 2026 is 2.44 percent. The city’s highest lawful levy was shown at roughly $6.6–$6.7 million and staff calculated a resulting levy rate of approximately $0.69 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Barb summarized levy mechanics, noting that the regular 1% levy increase plus new construction and refunds result in an overall estimated citywide property‑tax increase of about 2.1%. She gave an example showing that on a house valued at $500,000 the city portion of the tax would change by about $7.60 annually in the average case. "Because the city is annexed into a fire district and a library district, our total maximum levy rate is $1.60," Barb said while explaining how assessed‑value changes affect individual bills.
Council subsequently moved to adopt Ordinance 1206 authorizing collection of the 2026 property tax levy; the motion passed. Later, Barb presented the first public reading of the 2026 budget (Ordinance 1205). The proposed budget priorities included public safety, a traffic‑safety program with a funded traffic engineer, information technology upgrades, infrastructure maintenance and a capital improvement program totaling roughly $27.3 million for 2026. The budget also includes two proposed new positions: an IT applications/data analyst (Q2 hire) and a traffic engineer (Q1, funded from traffic program revenues).
Council approved the first reading of the budget ordinance, with the clerk recording two opposing votes during the reading; staff noted that a second reading and final action are scheduled at the next meeting. Barb said staff will post audited figures and additional breakdowns online once the auditor’s 2026 numbers are complete.
