Letter to Editor | No on levy lid lift

||| FROM CINDY CARTER |||

San Juan County is requesting a levy lid lift to $.85/$1000 of property value.

The statement on the county website is the same levy rate that was approved in 2019. What they fail to mention is that in 2019, from the San Juan Assessor’s information, the value of the taxable land was 7,543,576,994. (yes, that’s $7+ billion dollars!)

This year’s (2026) taxable land value is $14,659,653,033. That means that we would basically double the taxes collected for the county if we are using the same rate as was approved in 2019.

To lift the levy lid is an excessive increase in the taking of individuals’ money.

Then there is the comparison with other counties of approximately the same size as San Juan County.

• San Juan County current population is estimated for 2026 as 18,794. The budget for expenses in 2025 in San Juan County was $144,500,873.
• In Asotin County, population 22,500, their budget is $47,349,000.
• Klickitat County, population 23,400, their budget is $64,870,000.
• Pacific County, population 25,000, and budget of $64,547,000.
• Pend Oreille, population 14,050, and expenses of $15,651,000.

Even if you add 20% to the above budgets because of the increased cost of living in San Juan County, the most any of the above counties would budget or spend is $77,844,000.

The conclusion to the above information is that San Juan County already exceeds what other counties of similar sizes are spending by about 53% or by about $66 million dollars. San Juan county is wasting way too much money on a variety of programs and studies and needs to cut down. Passing this levy would allow the county to continue throwing money around like water with little to no accountability.

Increasing Levies(taxes) increases rents and the cost of living in SJC. Many are leaving SJC already due to financial strain.

Is this request for more of our money necessary? NO

Is this request for more of our money excessive? YES

Is this request for more of our money damaging? YES

Save SJC. We must VOTE NO on this levy lid lift.