Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah) offered the following statement on news that the Senate would not be moving forward with SB 5770, legislation to raise the annual cap on property tax increases for cities, counties, and local governments from 1 percent to 3 percent:
“SB 5770 was a bad bill and I voted against it in the Ways & Means Committee – but the problem it intended to address still remains. Our local governments absolutely need more financial support to provide essential services like police, fire, and public health. A broad-based increase in the voter-approved property tax cap isn’t the right way to do that – I’ve heard loud and clear that Washington residents can’t afford higher property taxes – so the Legislature needs to be thoughtful about our other options instead.
“I’ve introduced a bill this year to share more tax revenue from our cannabis market with local governments, with the money earmarked for public safety and law enforcement. The Senate passed another bill I introduced that would require the state to pay 100 percent of the cost for training law enforcement, rather than having us paying 75 percent of the cost and making local police departments and sheriffs offices pay the other quarter. Some of my Republican colleagues also have ideas for how to send more state money to help our local governments too – good ideas don’t just come from one side of the aisle.
“Now that 5770 is rightfully behind us, I want the Legislature to continue the public conversation about the other options for how we can make sure our cities and counties have the funding to provide the services that Washingtonians count on.”
