SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — People living in Spokane will see a slight increase to their property taxes next year due to the recently approved one-percent increase.
Currently, a homeowner in the City of Spokane pays around $9.66 per $1,000 in assessed property value.
Of that tax, almost $6 goes toward schools, and the county general fund receives about $0.70, which equals about 7% of the total tax.
The newly approved tax for 2025 will increase the amount received by the county general fund.
For a homeowner with an estimated property value of $425,000 , the tax will result in a $0.24 increase in property tax per month, and $2.92 per year.
The additional tax will make the county an estimated $652,000 in additional revenue.
Those in favor of the tax said that revenue is needed to ensure public safety departments get the funding they need.
“I think the citizens need to know we worked hard to look for every efficiency. We have frozen the budget of several of our county departments and made cuts in other areas. So, I look at this as a last resort, but it’s important that we be able to meet those critical needs for public safety,” said District 1 County Commissioner Chris Jordan.
Both the Spokane County Prosecutor and the Sheriff’s Office also supported the tax increase, saying it will help them enhance the resources they provide.
“It is no secret that the County is facing difficult budget constraints due to the economy,” said Sheriff John Nowels. “In all of my many conversations with the public, there is strong support for paying a little more in taxes if it’s going to enhance public safety—which is what this will help us do.”
Those who oppose the increase said the money needed to support public safety needs already exists in the 2025 budget.
“We had $12 million in budget capacity to spread out amongst all of our departments to give them above the amount that they had received in the 2024 budget, so that was probably the main reason why I did not support the property tax increase. We could make our budget balance without it,” said District 3 County Commissioner Josh Kerns.
District 5 Commissioner, Al French, joined with Kerns in voting against the tax increase.
The tax increase is on top of what the county brought in last year, meaning that if this one percent tax increase is approved again next year, the value for the increase in taxes would go up again.
The county commissioners will decide on the final budget for 2025 on December 2.
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