To keep up with the growth in yearly costs, the Snoqualmie City council approved an ordinance to increase the property taxes in the city, and raise the property tax to the state’s annual limit of 1 percent at the Nov. 28 meeting.

The total property tax revenue for 2017 will amount to $7,668,000 which, according to the property tax council report on the city’s website, is a 14.2 percent increase over 2016.

Nicholas Lee, chief finance officer at the city of Snoqualmie, explained the increase as being a collection of factors, including higher property tax revenue, new construction and improvements to property within the city, new property annexed into the city and the increase in value of state-owned utility infrastructure in the city. It also includes Snoqualmie’s Proposition 1, a property tax increase which voters passed in early November to fund the hiring of two new police officers and one new firefighter.

“That 14.2 percent is a summation of all that,” he said. “That levy lid lift was about 9.7 percent. It looks like some of the higher years that the city has ever had, and had we not passed Proposition 1, we would be been down toward the 4 percent mark. That’s the big difference maker, the people said they wanted to pay for the extra firefighter and officers.”

The levy lid lift is dedicated to expenses related to police and fire positions, Lee said. It is not to bring in more money to the city’s general fund.

“That 10 percent for the levy lid lift, that’s almost a one-for-one offset for expenditure, it’s not just a big windfall to the general fund,” he said. “Benefits, health care, uniforms, guns, training, there are a lot of costs to get them in the door and up and running.”

Property taxes make up almost half the city’s revenue, Lee said. Initiative 747, passed in 2001, limits the city to only a 1 percent increase per year in property taxes. However, costs are going up 2 to 3 percent each year, he explained.

The decrease in construction projects with the completion of the Snoqualmie Ridge development will also affect the city’s revenue. The city is trying to become more efficient and sustainable, Lee said.

“It’s going to be a different revenue era for the city. There will be a slowdown in the growth rate of property taxes in the city, we won’t have new construction coming in the same way we used to,” he said. “We are starting to be aware of that and trying to make sure we are prepared financially… As we see that new construction tail off an we are going to feel that squeeze a little more. We have to become more efficient.”

The third ordinance approved, an excess property tax levy amounting to $247,953, is the yearly payment of the 20-year bond debt the city took out to construct the new fire station in 2002. Lee said this year the payment is less expensive than years past because the city refinanced the debt insurance to get a lower interest rate. This ordinance set the 2017 amount for the levy.

The city council agenda and attached documentation can be found on the city council agenda page of the city of Snoqualmie website. Visit www.ci.snoqualmie.wa.us/CouncilAgendas/tabid/384/Default.aspx.