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Seattle officials warn city is approaching state property-tax levy limit, urge 10% buffer
Summary
City budget staff told the council the city's regular property-tax levy is nearing Washington's $3.60-per-$1,000 legal cap and presented a model showing roughly $780 million in remaining levy capacity over seven years; staff recommended a 10% capacity reserve and offered follow-up analyses of lower growth scenarios and county levies.
Seattle budget officials told the Council's Finance, Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee on March 3 that the city is approaching the legal ceiling on its regular property-tax levy and urged caution before advancing new levy proposals.
"State law limits us to $3.60 per $1,000 of assessed value for our city's regular levy," said Joe Russell of the City Budget Office, explaining the statutory ceiling and how voter-approved "lid lifts" interact with the cap. Russell and other staff said volatility in assessed value (AV) is the principal risk to levy capacity because AV determines the tax rate in the formula the Department of Revenue uses.
Alex Zang of the City Budget Office told the committee the office modeled several scenarios and found "a remaining levy capacity of approximately $780,000,000 over the next seven years," an average of about $111…
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