Recall movement building for Bellingham mayor

greenspun.com : LUSENET : I-695 Thirty Dollar License Tab Initiative : One Thread

I got a call this morning from someone who is not in the mainstream of city or county politics. She wanted to know where to go for instructions on recalling the mayor. It looks like folks are coming out of the woodwork on this thing. Question: shall we simply recall the elected officials or petition to roll back the 7.6% property tax that voted on last night?

-- (Samizdat@home.com), November 09, 1999

Answers

Please check your information. A local government can't increase the property tax by more than 6%, even with a finding of substantial need, without a vote of the people.

What you may have is an increase of 6% on the existing property, and 1.6% more in revenue derived from the application of the tax rate from last year on the new construction value in the community. The new construction tax is part of the total property tax, but is not an increase in the tax of the existing property owners by action of the "state" as defined in the initiative. It results from the action of the developers who add buildings, and service needs, to a community; and are taxed to provide their share of the cost of the services they get. If that is not done, either the existing property owners are paying for their services, or the level of service must be reduced to everyone in order to serve the new need.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), November 11, 1999.


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