Fire District 40's (and Fairwood's) 2010 tax increase

I previously posted about the Fire District 40 meeting that took place on October 20th. The question I had for the commissioners was what the effective property tax rate would be for FD 40 in 2010 when you combine the fire benefit charge with FD 40’s regular levy. In 2009, the effective rate was $1.47 per $1000 AV.

At the meeting, a Power Point presentation was displayed that outlined the district’s finances for 2010. It’s available at the FD 40 website here:

http://www.fd40.com/District%20Finances.ppt

If you look at slide 11 of that presentation, it tells you what the district’s budget was in 2009, and what the proposed budget is for 2010.

On King County’s website, there’s information for the 2009 tax revenues for all fire districts. It has the levy rate, total tax collected, and total assessed valuation. You can read that information here:

http://www.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/Reports/2009AnnualReport/~/media/Assessor/AnnualReports/2009/TaxStats/09Fire.ashx

You’ll see that FD 40’s rate in the above document is $1.22 per $1000 AV. That includes the bond measure used to pay for the new fire station on Benson Rd., which I’m not including for the purposes of this post, since it’s dedicated to capital projects.

Here’s the district’s numbers for 2009:

Property Taxes ($1.00 per $1000 AV levy)
$2,614,432
Fire Benefit Charge
$1,234,764
Total Assessed Valuation
$2,625,061,546
Effective Property Tax Rate
$1.47 per $1000 AV

You’ll note that the district collected less than $1.00 per $1000 AV based on the total assessed value. The collections were off by about 4%, which is probably the rate of delinquency.

Here’s the same numbers for 2010:

Property Taxes ($1.00 per $1000 AV levy)
$2,194,233
Fire Benefit Charge
$1,678,717
Total Assessed Valuation
$2,195,551,453

Here’s the total effective property tax rate for FD 40 for 2010:

2010 Effective Property Tax Rate
$1.76 per $1000 AV

The only part of the 2010 numbers not available is the total AV for FD 40. I get the total AV based on what was apparently said at the 10/29/09 meeting, which was that the total AV of the district has dropped by 16.4% (I wasn't there, and heard that number secondhand).

Anyway, it’s a lot of math. But the bottom line is this:

2009: $1.47 per $1000 AV effective property tax rate
2010: $1.76 per $1000 AV effective property tax rate

That means that FD 40’s effective property tax rate is 19.73% higher in 2010 than it was in 2009. I’m not saying that’s the wrong decision – it may well be the right one – but we need to be clear about what that decision is. For FD 40 to maintain existing services, we are going to have to pay higher taxes – a nearly 20% increase in the effective tax rate.

Remember, Renton has been criticized by Vote Fairwood for temporarily reducing staffing due to the economy. Renton has opted to not increase taxes in the face of one of the worst economic climates in decades. Vote Fairwood has championed FD 40's approach.

What’s that mean for the proposed city of Fairwood? FD 40 had to raise taxes 19.73% higher in 2010 to maintain existing services. If Fairwood incorporates, it’ll have to do the same.

Vote against higher taxes. Vote against incorporation.