While voters statewide voted in favor of Tim Eyman's latest anti-tax initiative, Seattle voters supported multiple tax levies on the November ballot, supporting transportation, kids and campaign finance reform.
Seattle's Proposition 1, Let's Move Seattle Transportation Levy, took an unexpectedly comfortable lead on Election Night.
Supporters feared it would be incredibly close in the face of a well-funded opposition campaign, as well as the perception of "levy fatigue."
However, Seattle voters stayed true to their time tested practice of saying "yes" to taxes.
"The grassroots has spoken; Seattle is going to get moving again," Mayor Ed Murray said at a celebratory Election Night party.
But it comes with a cost, and if you're a property owner in Seattle, here's a look at your post-election property tax bill.
An average homeowner, whose property is assessed at $450,000, already pays more than $4,100 a year in property tax, which includes previously approved levies. That reflects a rate of $9.27 per $1,000 in assessed value.
After the vote November 3, Seattle property owners will pay $275/year for Let's Move, a $145 increase over the expiring Bridge the Gap levy. The additional tax rate increase would be approx. $.62 per $1,000 in assessed value, according to the measure.
That's in addition to King County's "Best Starts For Kids," which would add an estimated $63 a year, or $.14 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Also favored by voters, Seattle's I-122 Honest Elections, which comes to under $10 a year for the average property owner, a small levy of $.0194/$1,000.
However, when all the new levies are added, the total comes to nearly $350 per year for the average homeowner. That brings the total tax bill to around $4,500.
"All the pet projects really sound really soft and wonderful, 'Oh boy transportation, oh yes, schools, all these parks,' and we all want them yes, but when we don't own property, we don't have any skin in the game," said Sabrina Libertty of West Seattle. She told KING 5 she would likely vote against the levies, due to the cost.
While Libertty feels homeowners bear the brunt, apartment dwellers pay for levies too, in theory through higher rents.
While voters have spoken, the new levies come at a time when housing affordability remained a top campaign issue across all Seattle City Council races.
