City Council members approve property tax increase

SAM TAYLOR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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BELLINGHAM - City Council members unanimously approved a 1 percent property tax increase Monday, Nov. 9.

The increase brings in an additional $180,639, spread out among all city property taxpayers, and amounts to about $6.18 for a $300,000 home owner.

Council members didn't talk about a proposal by Councilman Stan Snapp to take "banked capacity" - using previous taxing authority the council declined to take and reserved to tap in the future if it chooses to do so.

Snapp had made a proposal during a Monday afternoon committee meeting to take about $234,000 in additional taxing authority, but he received no agreement from the rest of the committee, Council members Gene Knutson and Louise Bjornson. Both had signaled support for the 1 percent. Snapp's idea would have sent the $6.18 tax increase for the owner of a $300,000 home to about $15, according to city budget manager Brian Henshaw.

Knutson said prior to the night meeting that he was not in favor of taking the banked capacity.

Mayor Dan Pike had proposed the 1 percent increase as part of his 2010 budget plan, which also included tapping $1.8 million in general fund reserves to bolster the budget in the face of a potential deficit.

If Pike's $187.8 million proposal is approved, city officials will have cut $28.3 million from the budget in 2009 and 2010.

It would bring the city below 2006 budget levels and is a 13.1 percent cut from the 2009 adopted budget.

Pike and council members had argued that at least the 1 percent increase was necessary to shore up the budget and to avoid further cuts, particularly in staffing.

The council, at the mayor's urging in 2008, declined to take the 1 percent increase, citing the economic recession and a desire to show city residents that the city government understood their pocketbooks were hurting.

But Pike said not taking the tax increase couldn't be done every year, and that it was a responsible way to deal with budget issues.

Snapp, who voted in favor of not taking the tax increase in 2008, said that he thought it was extremely important to take more tax money in 2010.

"We spent six to eight months struggling with the (city's financial task force), four full rounds of budget cuts. I was unhappy with going into reserves, but I don't see any alternative than reducing services to unacceptable levels," Snapp said.