||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
San Juan County publishes a second round of answers to frequently asked Road Levy questions. November’s ballots will include Resolution No. 20-2022 – a proposition to increase the county road levy from $0.56 to $1.00 per $1,000 of assessed value. The $0.44 increase will be used to maintain roads and marine facilities, repair storm damage, and enhance roads for pedestrians and cyclists.
Q: What is the levy rate? The lid lift is $1, but what’s the rate?
A: The proposed ballot proposition is to increase the road fund levy to $1.00 per $1,000 assessed value. The new levy rate would also be $1.00 per $1,000 of assessed value – making both the lid lift and the levy rate $1.00.
Q: What does a “single-year permanent levy lid lift” mean?
A: With a permanent single-year lid lift, the levy lid bumps up more than 1% in the first year, and then that amount is used to calculate all future 101% levy limitations. The measure never expires, and the levy lid never reverts. However, future annual increases may not exceed 1% without going to the voters for another lid lift.
Q: Will the Road Levy really raise my property taxes by 79%?
A: No, your overall property taxes will not increase by 79%. The road levy rate will increase by roughly 79% (from $0.56 to $1.00), but the road levy is a small percentage of total property taxes paid. Last year it was about 7% of the total taxes levied. A 79% increase of about 7% of the overall tax bill results in only about a 5.6% increase overall.
Q: How will this levy lid lift affect my taxes?
A: Use this formula to calculate your tax: 2023 assessed value x $1.00 levy rate/ 1,000 = your road fund tax.
For example:
- A home in 2022 that was valued at $700,000, paying last year’s road levy rate of $0.56, contributed $392 to the road fund.
- If that same home received a 30% increase in assessed value this year, it is now valued at $910,000.
- With the new road levy, the rate becomes $1.00 per $1,000 of assessed value, and that home would pay $910.00 to the road fund.
Q: What happens if the County collects more revenue that was estimated?
A: The County estimated revenue to be generated by this levy lid lift using 2022 property valuations. Actual revenue collected will use 2023 property valuations. Any additional funds collected by this levy lid lift are expensed for the same purposes for which they are collected – repairs and replacements of failing culverts, updates to marine facilities, and widening of shoulders for multi-modal transportation.
Q: Can the County use money from other funds to support the road fund?
A: The County uses funds sources to support a variety of existing programs and services including but not limited to the Sheriff’s Office, District and Superior Courts, Community Development, Parks and Recreation, grant matches, and more. Diversion of General Fund proceeds to the Road Fund may affect existing programming.
Q: Why doesn’t the County use LTAC to pay for road shoulders?
A: LTAC stands for Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and is a grant program for tourism-related improvements. The County does apply to LTAC for Public Works projects including road shoulder improvements. While the County has and will continue to apply of LTAC funding, as well as other state and federal funding sources, these grant programs do not replace the need for a levy lid lift.
Q: Where can I learn more about the road levy?
A: Learn more about the proposed levy and use the interactive project map on the San Juan County Website. If you’re interested in Road and Culvert Repairs, you can learn about past emergency repairs and upcoming projects. For those interested in proposed Enhanced Shoulder Projects, learn which roads are prioritized based on various County planning documents. If you’re interested in potential Marine Facility Projects, you can learn which docks and ramps are in need of updates and repairs.
The 2022 Roads Levy increases your 2023 road levy tax from an estimated 44 cents per $1000 assessed value. The 2022 tax rate is .55541, and with the legal increase of 1% plus new construction and the 2022 assessed values sent out in October, that rate drops to about .44 cents next year.
SJC would collect an estimated $5.147 million for the Roads Fund if there levy fails.
SJC would collect an estimated $11.674 million for the Roads Fund if the levy passes.
That”s a Roads Fund first year tax increase of 226%.
But where did millions of dollars previously collected for the Roads Fund go through legally shifting and diverting Road Fund money?
Answer pending factual confirmation.
So based on the foregoing example that uses the 2022 assessment, the county anticipated a budgetary need for $700 compared to the current $392, but will actually receive $910 when applied to the 2023 valuation.
The resulting windfall of $210 will be included in the BASIS for the permanent “bump” that will carry through to all future annual increases. Seems like the lift proposal should be based on the county’s expected NEED and no more.
Most reasonable solution, vote NO and bring the proposal back next year with adjusted numbers that reflect an accurate funding NEED so voters can make an informed decision.
By the calculations in the article above, the road tax paid by the example house went from $392 to $910. That is a 132% increase in one year and it never expires; this is permanent.
Until the road department can demonstrate that it is working efficiently, intelligently and transparently with the money they currently receive, I think it is insane to give them more of our tax dollars to waste. Two days ago I literally saw a brand new county truck parked on a blind corner with two county personnel, one person sitting in the truck and one cleaning the little reflectors on the guard rail with a brush. And this is just the tiniest example of poor use of our tax dollars. Eggs are $8+ per dozen, gas is $5 per gallon and the county is polishing reflectors while holding out their hand for more tax money? You can be sure that I will be voting NO on the road levy!
If a Washington State county can operate on lesser funds than is annually collected by the road fund levy, road funds can legally be SHIFTED to the current expenses account.
A Washington State county can also legally DIVERT virtually any amount of the road fund to the current expenses account.
SJC’s road fund history shows $3,956,000 SHIFTED from the road fund to the current expenses account since 2002, meaning they collected more in the road funds than they needed for roads. That’s almost $4 million they could have spent on road and marine projects. The current expenses fund could be used for any legal purpose, but why would they shift that amount IF they used the money for the same road projects it would have been spent on if the money had remained in the road fund?
But that’s just the SHIFT amount. SJC road fund history shows $17,491,907 DIVERTED from the road fund to the current expenses account since 1972.
Bottom Line: A total of $21,448,358 has been SHIFTED and DIVERTED from the road fund to the current expenses account since 1972.
And now SJC is asking for a major levy base increase in the road fund when they have been legally siphoning road fund money to the current expenses account for some 50 years.
That also begs the question: if the road levy is approved, are the shifting and diverting actions over, or will the additional money raised by the road levy continue to be a revenue stream from the road fund to the current expenses account?
Thank you Mr. Dashiell. This is precisely my concern. If I were assured that the proposed permanently increased levy for roads and public works would be devoted to only those purposes, I would look more favorably on lifting the levy lid. But I have no confidence that the county, without any input from taxpayers (not required under Washington law), will not again find the pot of money we thought we had dedicated to public works just too tempting to pass up. Even if the current county council members could credibly promise not to SHIFT or DIVERT road fund monies, those undertakings cannot bind future county council members. Although I have been assured that the county is not currently SHIFTing or DIVERTing money from the road fund to the general fund, the most recent SHIFT was $50,000 in 2016 (along with a DIVERSION of $650,000 that year) and the most recent DIVERSION was $350,000 in 2021, according to county records I have seen.
This on top of major increases in assessed value that are going to really hit the property owners who have seen their assessed values rise precipitously. Even if the county is limited by law to a 1% overall increase in tax revenues, the burden is not distributed evenly and an individual taxpayer can experience an increase in property taxes of 40% or more based on an increased assessed value, even before the road levy limit is lifted. Effectively doubling (or more) the base amount for road levy on which all future 1% growth limits would be calculated has the potential to severely hurt the taxpayer, making the more marginal among us contemplate whether we can still afford to live here.