Seattle Levies Poised to Pass

11/05/2008

Early results in King County indicate that Seattle voters have decided to tax themselves to fund improvements to their parks and to Pike Place Market. KUOW's Amy Radil reports.

THE PLACEMENT OF BOTH PROPERTY TAX LEVIES ON THIS YEAR'S BALLOT WAS CONTROVERSIAL. SEATTLE MAYOR GREG NICKELS OPPOSED THE PARKS LEVY, BECAUSE HE WANTED TO PRIORITIZE THE PIKE PLACE MARKET LEVY AS WELL AS THE REGIONAL SOUND TRANSIT BALLOT MEASURE. BUT THE SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL DECIDED THE TIME WAS RIGHT FOR THE PARKS LEVY, WHICH WOULD RAISE $146 MILLION DOLLARS OVER SIX YEARS TO IMPROVE PARKS AND PURCHASE OPEN SPACE.

CITY COUNCIL MEMBER RICHARD CONLIN SAYS A PUBLIC OPINION POLL IN MARCH INDICATED THAT VOTERS WOULD PASS ALL THREE TAX INCREASES. AND DESPITE THE BAD ECONOMIC NEWS SINCE THEN, THE RESULTS HELD STEADY IN A POLL IN OCTOBER.

CONLIN: "It was actually pretty similar, it was showing that all of them were polling in the high fifties, and that's pretty good at that stage of the game, they were all holding 15–20 point leads."

THE PIKE PLACE MARKET PROPERTY TAX LEVY WOULD RAISE $73 MILLION DOLLARS FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO THE MARKET'S HISTORIC BUILDINGS. LYNN CLAUDON CHAIRED THE LEVY CAMPAIGN. SHE SAYS SHE DIDN'T FEEL THE LEVY WAS IN COMPETITION WITH OTHER THINGS ON THE BALLOT.

CLAUDON: "It wasn't so much the other levies as it was just the general economic uncertainty people were facing. People recognize that they love the market and all we were asking for was basic infrastructure, it wasn't an added 'extra.'"

CLAUDON SAYS SHE'S ENCOURAGED THAT SEATTLE VOTERS CHOSE TO FUND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE MARKET, EVEN IN DIFFICULT ECONOMIC TIMES.

ADVOCATES FOR THE TWO MEASURES SAY THE EXPIRING PRO PARKS LEVY COST TAXPAYERS THE SAME AS THIS YEAR'S LEVIES COMBINED. SO EVEN IF BOTH LEVIES DO PASS, PROPERTY OWNERS SHOULD SEE THEIR TAXES STAY ABOUT THE SAME.

AMY RADIL, KUOW NEWS.

© Copyright 2008, KUOW