The
Spokane City Council tonight will consider an emergency ordinance to authorize
a property tax exemption for qualified low-income seniors and disabled
individuals that would apply to the City’s recently passed street levy. The
exemption would take effect immediately.
A press release just sent out by City staff quotes Mayor Condon as saying, “We told
our citizens our street levy proposal would buy additional street improvements
without increasing tax rates, and we will live up to that commitment with this
action.”
The
City’s proposed exemption mirrors one already allowed by state law, but the
Washington State Department of Revenue contends that its exemption program
doesn’t apply to the new street levy as it did to the previous 2004 street
bond. Rather than spending public dollars and unnecessary time on a legal
action, the City has decided to adopt its own exemption program to apply to the
new street levy and similar measures.
The
exemption program applies to seniors or disabled individuals with a household
income of $35,000 or less. Citizens can apply for the property exemption
through the Spokane County Assessor’s Office. Information is available at www.spokanecounty.org/Assessor/.
No comments:
Post a Comment