John Roskelley: Government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem

State legislators are scrambling for money to fund the state for the next biennium and cover a self-inflicted $16 billion deficit. After years of overspending and gifting almost 800 tax exemptions to businesses, their past largess has come home to roost – to the taxpayer’s detriment.

A variety of taxes are under consideration, but your property is the primary target now that Gov. Bob Ferguson has taken the wealth tax off the table and legislators are reluctant to reduce services.

Senate Bill 5798 is a financial nightmare for seniors on a fixed income. The bill allows local elected officials to increase your property tax at will without a public vote.

Since the passage of Initiative 747 in 2001 and subsequent approval by the Legislature, a levy lid cap of 1% a year has been in place to limit elected official’s appetite for spending. The Democratic majority has tried multiple times to raise the levy lid from 1% to 3%, but were stopped each year by angry constituents throughout the state.

This year, however, the writers and primary sponsors of the bill changed the methodology and language to achieve the same effect as raising the levy lid to 3%. According to the fiscal note, over six years the state will pocket $1.9 billion, which is dedicated to schools, while local governments will haul in $2.9 billion for … who knows! These same elected officials only need to claim a “substantial need,” a vague and undefined term in the bill that allows them to keep hiring and spending with your property tax increase.

Specifically, the bill states, “Upon a finding of substantial need, the local legislative authority may provide for the use of a limit factor of 100% plus population change and inflation for a city, county, or town’s current expense levy.” Confused? So is everyone else. The population change and inflation criteria are the ingenious subterfuge the legislative committee came up with to blatantly ignore the levy lid of 1% voters approved in 2001.

City councils, county commissions and special districts are filled with well-intentioned citizens, but seldom are any of them financial wizards.

For example, in 2010 with roads crumbling and services being cut, the Spokane City Council unanimously approved a 12-year property tax exemption for the first 279 units built in Kendal Yards throwing away millions of dollars of future tax revenue in a heartbeat. Would Kendal Yards have been built without this gifting of public funds? Absolutely. The buyers of those units were not “low income” as presented to the council. Today, a two-bedroom apartment in Kendal Yards rents for more than $2,000 a month and condos sell for more than $1 million. These tax exemptions to developers and their clients have been going on for over a decade, and the City Council wonders why they can’t balance their budget.

As a former Spokane County commissioner, balancing the county’s budget was a priority. It took months of line-item budgeting; requiring department heads and other elected officials to justify their budget requests; and living within expected revenues. For eight of the nine years I was in office, the other two commissioners and I did not raise property taxes the allotted 1% and had the most reserve of any county in the state. This is the way government is supposed to work.

If SB 5798 makes its way to the governor’s desk, forget about that summer vacation – your property taxes will skyrocket. Why? The Senate Ways and Means Committee’s public hearing on the bill held on March 31 is a window into the future. There were more than 300 people signed up to testify on the bill, the majority were property owners concerned that they would be taxed out of their homes.

Their fears were realized in the testimonies by those who spoke in favor of the bill – elected officials, law enforcement, fire department personnel, and government labor leaders – all of whom testified they can’t provide the services the public wants or needs within the 1% levy limit. Having been in their position, I don’t buy that excuse.

More than 43,000 taxpayers have contacted their legislators so far to voice their opposition to this bill, and rightfully so. We hired these state and local representatives to spend wisely and live within their means. They failed to do so. This bill should die in committee or be rewritten so that any property tax increase should be voted on by the people.

John Roskelley is a lifelong resident of Spokane County, author of five books, and a former Spokane County commissioner.