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Hello February! So as the calendar flips to this short, cute month, automatically the world becomes an endless barrage of shiny red hearts and tiny pink candies, begging one to be mine, an array of whimsically shaped chocolates (we had a solid 31 day run on that new year’s resolution for healthy eating, right?!)
Awe, the month of love…so let’s talk property taxes of course! The phrase property taxes much like any other ending in taxes probably doesn’t elicit many warm fuzzy feelings unless maybe you’re a tax attorney or county administrator. Hopefully as a homeowner or buyer you think about those costs as part of your overall housing budget. And perhaps each spring you wait with bated breath to receive that green postcard in the mail from the county. Flip it over, revealing the assessed value (yay!) and associated tax rate (boo!) for the coming year to prepare for any budget changes. Maybe you do a little groan, a little eye roll at the added costs. Perhaps a little internal happy dance as you stroll away from your mailbox thinking of those increased values. But, how often do you take a moment to ponder the bigger picture, what those values mean about the well-being of your community and what those taxes contribute to.
If we wanted to get sexy for a moment, we could pause and discuss how Washington state operates a budget-based system of property taxation with 3 main components – levy amount, assessed value and levy rate. How that systems holds in balance the necessary taxes for local societal function without exceeding the 1% limit of value for any given property value. Is this turning you on, baby?!
But really what gives value to a community? What makes a place a desirable place to call home? According to a Forbes article, 12 things that make a Neighborhood Truly Great are:
1) Lifestyle match 2) Pride in ownership 3) Low crime rate 4) Great schools 5) outdoor activities 6) Stepping back in time 7) Access to medical care 8) Family Friendly 9) Close to public transportation 10) Nearby shopping and restaurants 11) Nightlife and entertainment 12) Walkability
Asking myself the same question of why I live in Gig Harbor – what value do I put in living in this place vs. any other. My answer had little to do with taxes, but a great deal to do with the strong sense of community, the natural beauty of the area, its historic charm, accessibility to jobs, affordability of housing and reasonability of living costs. And a big draw as a young couple, was the school district and activities for families. A conclusion drawn from the Forbes article, “Not only are great schools important for families with children, they also make the surrounding neighborhoods more valuable and more sought after, keeping property values strong.”
Here’s the convergence, where love and money collide, for all intersections of a local population. When our tax dollars go to work for both the well- being of our population as well as protecting our investment in where we live. We can love where we live and know that its value is determined by our quality of life, but can we still feel those happy feelings and see that clearly when our tax rate hangs in the balance? Never is the correlation between property taxes and vitality of our community clearer than when all property owners are asked to vote on their tax rate.
Right now, in Gig Harbor and surrounding area, we have a special election ballot due in the mail by February 12th! The one and only item on the ballot is a school bond. A bond that is a replacement to a previous bond, a bond that represents desperately needed funds to make our schools infrastructure support our expanding population of students. The benefits of a bond (vs. a levy) is it functions similarly to a home loan, where funds are available immediately and the debt paid off over time. This type of revenue allows a growing population to accommodate that growth with all future residents contributing to the elimination of that debt.
So, what does love got to do with it? Everything in my opinion. Love of our community and a love willing it into future success. Love for the people across generations, from little children filling the schools to the lifelong residents who hold all the history in their life stories. Love that makes the cost of protecting our community’s vitality and future value, worth every cent.
