Hoquiam Finance Director Corri Schmid said the usual 1 percent increase is proposed for property taxes in the city for 2018.
Monday’s City Council meeting served as the first hearing on the proposed property tax structure and was open to input from the council and public. The next public hearing will be held Nov. 27 in council chambers at 7 p.m., when Schmid hopes to have a clean draft of a property tax resolution to present to the council and public. The council hopes to have a budget amendment ready for review at the Dec. 11 meeting.
The 1 percent increase would add up to $3.24 per $1,000 of assessed value of the property, a hike of about four cents per $1,000 from 2017. Schmid said on a $100,000 property, the annual total property tax — when levies are factored in — would rise by 82 cents.
Those levies include the current aerial ladder fire engine, the ambulance bond and the 2016 EMS levy. The ladder truck levy amount drops to $24.16 per $1,000 assessed value, a savings of $2.11 from 2017. The ambulance bond also drops by a little more than a dollar to $20.70. The EMS levy remains the same as last year, 50 cents per $1,000 assessed value, in 2018.
“We’re getting the new ambulance later this month, so that’s exciting,” said Schmid.
Schmid also talked about potential refund levies, or property taxes that could be recovered based on changes in the assessment roll for basic, EMS, ambulance and fire equipment levies. Only estimated numbers were available at Monday’s meeting.
“They’re based on the assessed property value and the county decides how much that is,” said Schmid.
When Ward 4’s Ben Winkelman expressed his concerns over having only estimates, Schmid explained that she reached out to the county Auditor’s Office Oct. 11 and was told she would have the estimates in two weeks. After receiving nothing, she contacted them again before the meeting and was told she would have them by Nov. 17. There is an estimated $24,000 in potential refund levies available in 2018, down dramatically from 2017, said Schmid.
