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Editor:
Imagine, you’re on the Titanic having a good time when you feel a big bump, a loud noise and see the ship is scraping a big iceberg. The captain announces there was a minor accident — everything is OK but adjustments must be made.
The captain plans to get help from a nearby ship that will charge almost twice what the passengers already paid White Star for the trip if they want to be saved. If they do not pay, they will be left to sink with the Titanic. White Star will keep the money already paid by the passengers, without delivering them to the destination in addition to putting them in jeopardy.
This is the current scenario our mayor and city council (only one refused) want to force upon the taxpayers when pushing the fire and EMS services to the Regional Fire Authority (RFA). The city is in dire financial troubles, contributed by past and present mayors and councils. The current one cannot (or will not) figure out a way out of the mess and plans to keep the taxes already paid by taxpayers and allocated for those services to cover the holes.
Meanwhile, taxpayers will pay more, many will sink in dangerous debt and will likely lose their homes and/or go bankrupt in the process.
Time is overdue for the community to put a very close eye on this administration, and tell the captain/mayor to change course.
Mario Rossi
Edmonds
That’s interesting. Could you share any studies or data that show a direct link between higher local taxes and personal bankruptcies or foreclosures. Thanks
We can find several articles and studies on the Internet. I picked this one by DePaul University as an example.
https://www.housingstudies.org/blog/exploring-impacts-rising-property-taxes-changing-n/
Here’s an excerpt.
” Property taxes are often a much larger burden on lower-income families than wealthier households. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that in 2018, the poorest 20 percent of taxpayers paid 4.2 percent of their income on property taxes, compared to 3 percent of income for middle-income taxpayers and 1.7 percent of income for the wealthiest 1 percent of households. Other research has found that these tax disparities are felt strongest by Black and Hispanic residents who are estimated to have a 10 to 13 percent higher property tax burden than households more generally. A study from the Center for Municipal Finance found that this disproportionate burden is, at least in part, a result of regressive tax assessments in which more affordable properties are often assessed above their true market value and expensive properties are assessed below their true market value.”
Note that the RFA also plans to charge homeowners based on their property value, as if fires would happen more in more expensive properties.
Thank you Mario!! You are so right. Edmonds needs to be engaged and educated on what is going on with our budget. We are on the verge of being taxed right out of our homes. The mayor presented his 2025 budget on October 1. His Budget Book shows that Edmonds becomes insolvent by 2027. We’re bankrupt, and so will be many Edmonds residents as new proposed Levies tax us into bankruptcy as well. Our mayor is not listening to those advising him. He is not making the necessary reductions in administrative, department, and program cuts. Mayor Rosen is a retired Public Relations executive – he spread the fairy dust making folks happy. That is a wonderful quality and talent to have – however, he doesn’t have the municipal financial qualifications a mayor needs. At times tough decisions have to be made – like cutting positions. The Mayor isn’t making those tough decisions instead he is picking around the edges of the budget – hoping Edmonds will pass a levy to bail the city out of looming bankruptcy. In the middle of declaring a budget crisis he gave our Chief of Police a massive raise. She now earns $296,000/yr. – and the police department budget has increased by 50% in three years. Where is the mayor’s and council’s fiduciary responsibility to those who elected them?
This Council and Mayor are going to ask us to vote for about $2000/mo. more property taxes on a $1M property (mostly land value for many of us) to just keep us where we are now in city functionality. They will use fear and the “we must protect our way of life” meme to sell it. To actually save real money they need to look at re-starting a no frills Fire Dept. with privatized EMS and contracting with the County for Police service. They will not do this. The old town guard (think ECR), won the last election (with the exception of Michelle Dotsch) thru a surrogate so we are getting pretty much just what we deserve. I plan to vote NO on the new taxes for RFA annexation, but it’s probably just a futile gesture at this point. On City Council plan on seeing lots of 6 to 1 votes in the near weeks to come. That all said, none of these people are bad people and I know they mean well in what they are attempting to do. But as the saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. The pig here is we are out of money and will have to ask the people for more.
Is that supposed to be $20/month? — Teresa
This should have been resolved prior to the comment being printed.
I meant per year and my apologies to all for the mistake. My point is it has to be a large ask and around 2K/Yr. On a one M house is the latest guesstimate that I’ve heard from the good number crunchers looking at this and trying to make sense of it all. It’s already expensive to live here and it will get much worse without drastic changes in wants and expectations. The perception outside the Bowl area is that there is lots of untapped tax wealth to be had. Vote No, when the time comes or we will all pay more and then more yet.
Thanks for clarifying, Clint, and to follow up on Ron’s point, it wasn’t my intent to be criticizing you for making a mistake. I certainly make enough of them myself — Teresa
For perspective, the City of Edmonds holds a AAA Limited Tax General Obligation Bond rating from Standard & Poor’s—an achievement that reflects sound financial management and stability, even surpassing the State of Washington’s rating General Olbigation rating. This solid fiscal position makes the prospect of bankruptcy highly unlikely.
Given the city’s limited avenues to generate revenue, it is essential that we continue to elect leaders who are committed to making thoughtful, strategic decisions that ensure long-term success and community well-being.
Cheers!
Google Stsndard and Poors housing scandal to see how these ratings work until you find out how they really work. Hint: finded 3M for cover up. You know, when tax money bailed out the big banks. Just more lipstick on the pig I’m afraid. Cheers
Tax disparity between income groups is interesting. Studies done by a local economist and reported by the Seattle Times showed some interesting data.
The top earning 25% of taxpayers pay around 3-4% of their income to taxes, Sales, Property and other.
The lowest earning 25% of tax payers pay around 15-16% of their income to taxes.
The study also showed that we could replace Property and Sales tax with a 10% Flat rate tax. Not a good idea for we need a balance of taxes that respond differently to ups and downs in the economy.
A $1m income if they qualify for the top 25% would be paying at the rate of 4% total taxes of $40,000.
A $50k income if they qualify for the bottom 25% would be paying at the 16% rate total taxes of $8000.
If we shifted to a 10% flat rate income tax the payment would be $100,000 and $5000 respectively. That would be a significant shift of taxes paid by the poor to the rich. Up $60k and down $3k.
A flat rate income tax could be offered as a “revenue neutral” that would reduce both Property and Sales taxes.
It would make our tax system less regressive.