LYNNWOOD, Wash. — City councilors are still in battle against each other more than a week after a 4-3 vote increased property taxes for the city’s residents.
On Nov. 25, the vote approved an increase in property taxes to $7.2 million, a 52% increase above the $4.275 million brought in during 2024. The city estimates the average homeowner will pay a $144 increase over the year. Most of the money raised will cover a lapse in funding that came from grants and one-time COVID relief money.
“It was always you need more revenue, you need more revenue,” said Council President George Hurst. “It was just clear they weren’t looking at spending cuts.”
“They” refers to Mayor Christine Frizzell and department leaders who Hurst said, asked for money beyond what was needed to cover the COVID staffing and programs.
Originally, that was subject to a $6.2 million increase, but Hurst said a week before the vote, an added $1.2 million was brought forward in added spending for jail and court staff.
Ultimately, the council whittled down the increase to $7.2 million, funding 37 positions, 26 of which came from temporary grants and COVID funding.
The loss of COVID funding has impacted various levels of government. Tacoma and Seattle are actively seeking ways to address budget shortfalls. Additionally, the State of Washington is facing a projected budget gap of several billion dollars each year over the coming years.
“We’ve all read of the financial struggles of other cities in the region, and I don’t want Lynnwood to become one of them. Those cities will be forced to make tough decisions on whether to cut services, cut police officers, or make sudden drastic increases in taxes. This budget is proactive in making sure our city doesn’t end up in that type of crisis.”
Council Member David Parshall said in a statement to KIRO 7 News.
Hurst continued to express his opposition originally in an op-ed to the Lynnwood Times. Council Member Nick Coelho said Hurst’s column was ‘misleading’ and is working on a response to be published in the paper.
“The #1 issue I hear from Lynnwood residents is that they want public safety funded. These positions directly honor that request from our residents. Opening a new courthouse and jail and then refusing to staff them would be wasteful and lead to future financial problems,” Parshall said.
For Hurst, he said he wasn’t completely against an increase, understanding that the new police officers would have to be paid for somehow after the COVID funding expired. He believes that unused money from other city departments could have been used.
“Expenditures were below what was expected so I really thought that if they held the line for what they were spending in 2024, we would have been okay for 2025,” Hurst said.
Hurst said his increase in property taxes will be $163 next year. That’s compared to an annual $8 increase for the county, a $21 increase for the Fire Protection District, and $15 to the state.
“We could have looked at some expenditure reductions but that’s not what the mayor and her staff were proposing,” Hurst said.
Mayor Frizzell was not available for an interview on Tuesday. Parshall points to Frizzell’s commitment to creating an ‘efficiency study’ in 2025 “to ensure that we’re using tax dollars wisely.”