Michael Baumgartner: Seniors can’t afford Lisa Brown’s property tax increase proposal
By Michael Baumgartner
Spokane-area residents just finished paying a record amount of property taxes. The total county property tax bill increased nearly $300 million over the past six years to reach a total of $856 million in 2024. If Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown gets her way, city taxpayers will face an even bigger bill next year.
As the treasurer of Spokane County, I collect and invest property taxes on behalf of more than 80 local government entities. I do not set tax rates or assess home values. Still, I see every day in my office the impacts that high property taxes and inflation are having on those living on the edge.
In particular, many senior citizens on fixed incomes are at risk. I wish I could say it was unusual for elderly widows to break down and cry in my office about the burden of property taxes and their desperate fear that they will be forced out of their homes.
It’s not surprising that Brown has proposed a $36 million annual property tax increase. That works out to $370 per year for the average homeowner.
When I served with her in the state Senate, tax increases were Brown’s solution for seemingly every problem. Over time, she proposed more than $2 billion in tax increases and in 2009 she sued to overturn the taxpayer protection law requiring a two-thirds majority to raise taxes.
At a media event, Brown claimed that her proposal is for public safety and threatened to cut up to 150 police and fire jobs if it doesn’t pass. The mayor says the money is to pay for cops on the beat, but her proposal has no restrictions or guardrails. It could also be used for travel to conventions, raises or for staff retreats.
When I was in the Senate, with current City Council member Michael Cathcart as my aide, one of the first things we did was put legislation together to eliminate five state agencies – including saying goodbye to the office of the state printer. It turns out that the city of Spokane also has its own print shop. That may have made sense in the 1940s, but it almost certainly is something that could be contracted out to a local business today.
Searching for real cost savings is harder than increasing taxes – but it is what’s needed.
Last year, the county’s sales tax increase proposal, Measure 1, lost by almost 30 percentage points, and there’s little reason to think that Brown’s proposal will do better. If it does, I have no doubt that it will exacerbate the homeless problem by pushing vulnerable senior citizens out of their homes.
It’s clear that local governments should work together and look for ways to better manage their costs.
I earned a degree in economics from WSU but you don’t need a college degree to know that the key to balancing the budget is controlling spending. That’s true at our homes and it needs to be true with our government.
The city bargained with and gave big wage hikes to city workers. Now it’s time for them to go back to the drawing board and negotiate a new deal with taxpayers. I’m not running for mayor but I’d start here: spending should be strictly restricted to only public safety, and every dollar of new spending should be matched by reductions in existing administrative overhead.
In the meantime, I urge every taxpayer in Spokane to think about our senior citizens. Please remember to vote in August, and join me in voting “No” on the mayor’s tax increase.
Michael Baumgartner is the treasurer of Spokane County. This column reflects his personal opinion.