Last week, by a vote of 4-3, the Lynnwood City Council passed a City property tax increase of 52%. That large of an increase is something I could not vote for and as City Council President, I am concerned about the impact on residents with such a tremendous tax increase.
Please, I want to be clear, I am not saying all property taxes are going up by 52%. I found my latest property tax statement and for sure the Edmonds School District, the State and the South Snohomish County Regional Fire Authority all collect the bulk of the property tax that is assessed on my home. I do not have control over the taxes assessed by those entities. But, because of the decision by the City Council majority last week, the City of Lynnwood property tax on my home will increase from $309.65 per year to $471.87 per year. The 2% property tax increase that the County Council just passed increases the County property tax on my home from $344.99 to $351.89. The City of Lynnwood now collects more property tax on my home than the County does. How did this happen?
According to news reports I have read; hundreds of Snohomish County residents protested a proposed 8% increase in property taxes at a Snohomish County Council meeting in mid-November. At a contentious special budget public hearing held last week on November 25th the County Council passed a biennial budget that included a 2% increase in property taxes for 2025.
On that same night, the Lynnwood City Council met at our regularly scheduled business meeting to vote on the City’s property tax levy and biennial budget. The majority of the City Council complied with the mayor’s request to increase City property taxes, led by new council members who have had no previous budget experience. By a vote of 4-3 the Council adopted a biennial budget that includes a property tax of $7.2 million. Last year’s property tax levy for Lynnwood was $4.725 million. This is a historic 52% increase in the City of Lynnwood property taxes. The three senior members of the Council, myself, Council Vice-President Altamirano-Crosby and Council Member Decker voted against the tax increase.
Back on November 12, the Lynnwood City Council held a public hearing on the City property tax levy. At that meeting, the mayor’s staff submitted a City property tax levy of $6.2 million. Most of that proposed increase in the tax levy was to fund additional police and custody officers, a Human Services coordinator and two added park employees. There were just three residents who spoke at the Lynnwood public hearing. Only one opposed the $6.2 million tax levy. After the public hearing, a vote on the property tax levy was scheduled for two weeks later, November 25.
Before the vote on the property tax the City Council had a meeting on November 18. It was a Council work session, and the Council continued to deliberate on the mayor’s proposed budget. At that meeting the City’s Finance Director brought forward a list of additional funding requests. The Council saw these requests during the City Department budget presentations to the Council in October. During those presentations the Mayor told the City Council that they would have to find additional revenue if the Council wanted to include these “asks” in the budget. There were no options provided that decreased expenditures in the budget. At the November 18 meeting, the Finance Director presented an increase of over $1.2 million in property taxes as the way to pay for these “additional funding requests.”
A week later, on November 25, the City Council met to vote on the property tax levy. The Finance Director included two draft ordinances on the agenda. One was for the $6.2 million tax levy, the subject of the public hearing held on November 12. The other draft ordinance set the property tax levy at $7.4 million to pay for the added Department requests. I made the motion to approve the $6.2 million tax levy. Council Members went through various amendments to that motion and eventually the property tax was amended to $7.2 million. I proposed to reduce expenditures in the budget by 1.5% which would free up funds for the added requests and avoid any increase above the original $6.2 million property tax. The newer Council Members rejected that proposal saying it was too late to consider any spending cuts. The first term Council Members passed the increased property tax of $7.2 million by a vote of 4-3.
I have been surprised by the lack of media coverage or resident engagement regarding this 52% increase in the Lynnwood property tax. The proposed increase of 8% in Snohomish County’s property tax resulted in a huge turnout at a County Council meeting. The local news media, both print and television, have provided wide coverage about the final decision to increase the County property tax.
I am not satisfied that the recent press release written by the mayor’s staff sent out on November 26th is telling the whole story about the property tax and budget vote by the City Council on November 25th.
I hope this article provides some insights into the passage of the historic property tax increase in Lynnwood.
George Hurst, Lynnwood City Council President
Hurst was first elected to the City Council in 2015 and re-elected in 2019. During his years on the Council, Hurst has focused on making Lynnwood a safer place to live and work. He was Chair of the committee that created the South County Regional Fire Authority and served on the Board that combined two 911 call centers into one efficient 911 system for all of Snohomish County. Hurst legislative priorities over the years have been focused on addressing housing shortages, controlling government spending, and providing a business-friendly environment.
Hurst was born in Seattle and for 27 years has lived in Lynnwood with his wife and their four children. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History/Political Science from the University of Washington and a Master of Arts in American History from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
COMMENTARY DISCLAIMER: The views and comments expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Lynnwood Times nor any of its affiliate
Author: Lynnwood Times Contributor
37 Responses
Can’t afford $190 a year? Smells like broke in here.
Your comment smells of ignorance
Wow, what a huge, last minute increase. I appreciate your transparency and insight on how it happened. I hope residents will be more involved going forward.
Why don’t they just put up a few more traffic entrapment cameras to balance the budget? Those have always been Lynnwood’s ca$h cow.
We need to call this out. More tax, higher food ,gas already as it is.
Cool, another reason for our rent to increase. So tired of this bullshit.
Thanks, George, for the update and fighting to keep our taxes low. What is the best way to keep up to date on these issues? As a small business owner here in Lynnwood, incremental property tax increases like this on top of threatened federal tariffs create a ripple effect that has to be passed on to my end customer. I would happily advocate that now is not the time or place to continue to burden our small businesses in Lynnwood with additional taxes.
Well, I guess we know which council members to vote out at the 1st available opportunity. Geriatric gentrification en masse.
Why were we not notified about this outrageous city property tax increase? Based on the public turn out at the city council meeting no one was even notified of the 52% increase. They could of even passed a 100% increase and got away with it. I have owned my home in Lynnwood for 42 years and have never seen such an increase. People in Lynnwood will soon be moving out just as they are in Seattle due to taxes. We need a new city council. From Gary Presby
This is a substantial tax increase and will hurt those least able to afford it. I am personally disappointed in those council members who voted for this increase, they have lost my vote, and quickly off the top of my head I can mentally count at least one dozen neighbours whom I am confident share my disdain for this tax increase. I suspect we are not alone. The new year brings the possibility of price increases from Federal Trade Tariffs, and with new tariffs or without them, this tax will diminish the lives of residents and the ripple effect will be felt by businesses in the city. Taking money from our pockets harms us all.
This is why we sold our house and left Lynnwood. Outrageous!
Inexperienced and unethical city council members voted in for their stance on certain social topics but not based on actual experience running a city council. This doesn’t surprise me. Waste and abuse come to mind and probably embezzlement. Vote those 4 members out ASAP.
They’ve already tried to recall one of them if I remember correctly he’s been investigated at least one time for spending city funds on personal items and other inappropriate spending.
It seems the cities and counties already got huge property tax increases when the home values DOUBLED over the last 5 years. Everyone is already paying way more soooo….what is the city wasting all the extra taxes they already have.
I commend Mr. Hurst for speaking out and taking out this article. This is insanity. I agree this definitely needs to be better covered by the media and should have been this far. I’m also wondering why the countys proposed increases got the publicity and Nothing anywhere about Lynnwood it’s almost like it was done on purpose, in order for the council to get this passed . I know for a fact if residents were properly informed and notified, they would t have agreed to this or at least would have put up more of a fight over it. This is a shame like the other commenter said, this isn’t just going to affect the homeowners in Lynnwood, it’s going to have a significant ripple effect that’s far reaching and will definitely impact the quality of life for most if Lynnwood City residents. This is just terrible.
How dare them ,they should be ousted immediately!
Please don’t vote again for councils food voted for higher tax.
We need to call them out. We already paying high cost on food ,gas. More taxes.
How about eliminating the councils position these high pay positions isn’t necessary such as their offices and cars expenses etc .
Can someone list the names of the council members who voted YES on this? I’d like to know who I’m voting NO for at my first opportunity. Please share this article with your friends and neighbors – thank you George Hurst for bringing this to light!
So there’s a few things I need to know before I form an opinion on this.
1. What does this increase bring the total property tax up to in Lynnwood?
2. How does that new total compare to surrounding towns?
3. What is the extra $1.2 million going towards? Did the mayor’s office not go into specifics about what it was for or did they just say it was for “additional funding requests?”
Headline is created to enrage public. The increase in percentage is not what tax payer rate but total revenue increase. So if you pay 6000 dollars property tax per year, your taxes will not become 12000. Writer and editor trying is dealing in public misinformation. Really poor integrity
50% wouldn’t be 12000, it would be $9000, whether that’s the end result for properties owners or not. Hearst uses the example of 309 becoming 471 at 52%. It’s not doubling it’s increasing by half.
Guys, it’s not that big of a hike. It’s an increase on the % of tax, NOT on the total amount of tax you pay. So if your tax rate is 0.77% and your assessed property value is say $500,000, your current annual tax amount is $3850. With this increase, your tax rate will go up to ~0.78% so annual taxes go up to $3909.
Anna,
It is a tax increase plain and simple, at least you acknowledge it as such. That you view the increase as a mere annoyance to yourself is not adequate to justify taxing your fellow citizens. Let them eat cake, empress? I can think of a few folks in my neighbourhood who are on limited incomes, and any tax hurts. As Bill Clinton once said, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” Is the tax increase going to hurt? Depends on whom the “is” is.
Yo Randy, my comment “it’s not that big of a hike” was just clarifying the 52% increase was on the tax percentage no on the total tax amount. In many of the comment people were suggesting their property taxes were going up thousands of dollars, which in most, they weren’t.
Sometimes when news people write articles they gear it for clicks and the writing is a bit disingenuous, I just wanted to make sure everyone understood the info.
And Mr Know-it-all, I don’t even have a paying job atm, so not like I can afford my necessary but very expensive healthcare, or taxes, or mortgage, even food, but you go on calling me empress and making assumptions about people you no nothing about. You know what you “is”? You is an idiot boomer.
Just a little $ here and a little $ there…..no big deal…..right??!!
WOW! My wife and I moved to Lynnwood in 1997.
Most likely will not be here in 2027.
Thanks for bringing this news to our attention George!
Bye bye
It’s what we get with the demorats running our city, they want more more more and build bigger building’s and more houses for the illegals, we senior citizens are being pushed out of our homes and we grew up here, but the councle could care less about us ,they just care about there cost of living raise and there jobs and there family’s f them
Disingenuous description of the situation by implying that the revenue increase to the city of 52% is an increase in taxes. It’s not.
A better and more useful discussion would be more specifics on all the “asks” that forced the need to increase revenue for the city.
After all, even the writer was willing to allow the revenues to increase by 1.475 million (31%) to 6.2 million with a 2% increase in property taxes and no spending cuts, so it’s only the next 1.4 million that bothered him.
While nobody wants taxes to increase, we can often agree if we know what they will bring to the city. It behooves our city representative to speak honestly about the issue and not try to turn it into an ideological battle using loaded words and inadequate information.
The 2025 “Property Tax Levy” was greater (an increase) than the 2024 “Property Tax Levy”. That is by definition a “Tax” increase.
Please contact city council and Mayor. Let them know how you feel. Spread the word anyway you can.
For those saying it’s a misrepresentation, do the math. He stated his city taxes would increase from $309/year to $471. That’s a 52% increase.
Please get rid of this bottom banner add. I keep closing it && when it comes back it erases whatever I just wrote. Twice now.
I went over the supposed income the “criminal Justice Center” was supposed to bring in & asked why that wouldn’t cover any police & corrections officers or costs.
I also brought up the anticipated influx of wealthy commuters who were supposed to justify billions spent in development of now mostly empty apartment buildings when light rail opened.
The city is dumping money into projects, sometimes despite protests & even a woman’s death, often without public transparency, with the promise that the city will be flush with cash once ____ happens. If they have mismanaged or just misjudged, they don’t get to just take it from the people. They have to be adults and cut things from their budget if they want to add things. The people are already struggling. I know a couple business owners who left Lynnwood because of taxes. If you lose retail, and you drive the people away, I guess Lynnwood can return to chicken farms?
Do I understand this correctly?
The City gave a 6.7 million dollar tax break to a private corporation. Then, to offset them not paying their fair share, passed a 7.6 million dollar tax increase on those that live and work here?
Again, this shows us that profits are private. Debt is public!
Corporate welfare has got to stop!
I have no problem paying taxes. I just have a problem with my taxes being increased to subsidize corporations and the wealthy. Why did the Council give huge tax breaks (Cut taxes) to corporations then turn around and raise our taxes?
Hurst hasn’t had an original thought during his tenure. Lynnwood will be much better off when he finally goes away