(The Center Square) – Spokane Valley residents can be assured that their property taxes won’t increase next year, saving them less than $4 annually compared to if the city opted for a 1% increase.
State law allows the Valley to raise property taxes by a maximum of 1% annually until it reaches a rate of $1.60 per $1,000 of assessed value. Still, local officials haven’t approved an increase since 2009, making 2025 part of a 16-year tradition.
Savings are savings, no matter how minuscule; however, the decision leaves the Valley with little wiggle room for the 2025 general fund budget. Next year, recurring revenues, such as property and sales taxes, are projected to increase by 3.8%, but expenditures are also expected to go up by 6%.
While the general fund’s recurring revenues are projected to outpace recurring expenditures by $419,000, city staff say they anticipate total spending to exceed revenues by roughly $1.1 million.
“Taking a median or average home price of $439,000, that equates to about $3.38 [in savings] per year,” Finance Director Chelsie Taylor said Tuesday regarding the decision to not increase taxes.
Instead of making residents pay that extra $3.38, the council held the rate at roughly 78 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. Raising the rate by 1% would’ve generated another $138,060.
Deputy Mayor Tim Hattenburg said that could’ve inflated had the council stayed on top of the increases since 2009. State law still allows the Valley to take all those increases now without voter approval, but the council decided otherwise, though it still stands as an option in the future.
If the council had taken those increases, the collection would’ve increased from $14.08 million to $15.3 million for 2025. Hattenburg said that would’ve been enough to fund the ten additional police officers that the Valley intends to hire, not to mention the 18 others it also needs.
The council considered using that “banked capacity” in February as an option to fund the additional officers moving forward. Hattenburg stressed the importance of taking the increases on Tuesday as the city will continue to miss out on this additional revenue and potentially services without them.
Councilmember Rod Higgins also voted to increase the rate, joining Hattenburg in his dissent from Mayor Pam Haley and the four others on the council. Earlier this month, Higgins told them he’s been against not taking the increase for the last couple of years.
As revenues and expenditures inch closer, the increases could have provided a safeguard so the city doesn’t find itself in a more dire situation in the future.
“I think it’s a false saving to not go ahead and take that [1% increase],” Higgins said on Oct. 8. “We’re fooling ourselves.”
