City Council Considers ANOTHER Property Tax Increase

3 Minute Per Person Citizen Comment Period Open To All Who Attend October 21st. Or Watch On City Website & Just Vote by Nov 4th!

Morning-After Update: Upon citizens bringing this tax increase to light yesterday, multiple council members scrambled to be the one to propose canceling their 1% tax increase, and it was unanimously accepted. The council member who got the nod from the mayor to propose the amendment ironically stated that his reason was because the state had “raised taxes higher than in Washington State history” but never bothered to mention that the primary reason was: voters were watching now that it’s come to light he and this council raised taxes more than ever before in the history of the City of Puyallup.

After already raising property taxes by 6% this year despite state restrictions that limit cities to a 1% per year, the Puyallup City Council has on its agenda tonight a proposal to raise property taxes yet again. Last year at this time, council found a loophole in state law that allows cities to look back a certain number of years when past councils declined to raise property taxes, and add those years up to max-out how much they can raise taxes in the current year.

Since our city council maxed out the tax increases “banked” from previous years, they will be limited to 1% this year as you can read in the proposal published within tonight’s meeting agenda. The proposal does not say why they need to raise taxes yet again, just that “the City of Puyallup held a public hearing on revenue sources for the City’s following year’s current expense budget, and such hearing included consideration of possible increases in property tax revenues.”

• Council Under Kastama’s & King’s Leadership Not Providing Enough Financial Oversight

What we do know is that city council, for the first time in memory, cancelled all but one of what are normally 3 budget sessions for council members to pour through numbers, assess financial needs, look at revenues, and gain an understanding of their prime directive as a board: overseeing a city manager, finance director and staff who bring them budgeting proposals. Holding just one budget session this year makes us question if council has a real understanding of our finances anymore.

Considering some of council’s decisions over the past 2 years as Jim Kastama and Dennis King have been taking their 2 year turn as mayor and deputy mayor, oversight of city management is a real concern. We have already pointed out in prior posts that they rebuilt the 100 block of 9th Ave SW adjacent to the fair this year for $5 million, just four years after it was completely rebuilt using $2 million out of our very limited streets fund. When we say completely rebuilt, we saw it all as neighboring residents in Districts 1 & 2 – all the asphalt completely dug up twice, hauled away twice, then re-poured twice. Current street-view images on Google Maps shows some images from before the first rebuild in 2021, and some afterward.

• The Fair’s “Festival Street” Cost $5 Million on top of the $2 Million We Paid To Rebuild It Just Four Years Prior

The first rebuild in 2021 made the street nicer than most streets in town, and as one of the District 2 Survey respondents said today in her submission:

“The street by the fair should have been paid for by the fair. I see it is still not open to the public. What a waist of tax payers money. The original street could also have been a “Festival” street, close both ends, and use it during a special event! Wow so easy and hey look, it would not have cost us anything.”

The fair’s street also got priority over Meeker Street being remodeled into a festival street, even though that’s located in the heart of downtown where local businesses would actually benefit by making the area more vibrant year-round. As a District 1 Survey respondent stated yesterday in her submission:

“I hate that the fair got a festival street right away, even though the city has been planning one on Meeker street for a decade.” (PV4I Note: For information, click on https://www.puyallupwa.gov/2202/Meeker-Festival-Street and use the drop-down menu under “Project Updates” which hasn’t been updated since 2024 which is states that city council “made a motion to approve the design concept and direct staff to move to the next phase, engineering design. This next phase is slated to begin in 2025. Download a copy of the Council presentation in our Documents section.“)

• New Police Station 70% More Expensive Than 2023 Proposition Rejected Buy Voters

The fair’s festival street is not the only boondoggle project this council under Kastama and King undertook, not by a long shot. We’ve pointed out that despite voters rejecting 3 of council’s proposals to raise property taxes for a jail along with police station – a police station which was itemized at a $44 million pricetag that alone we would have supported – they scrapped that entire idea (and ignored our recommendation on how to proceed) and for some unexplained reason, and despite already owning land for the building, pursued a new boondoggle idea to rent (for 30 years) an even more out-of-the-way building to renovate as a police station … at 70% higher cost.

• Downtown Properties Gifted to Developers for $1.00

Then there’s the 2 new downtown condo developments coming next year, on land we owned that city council gifted to the developers for $1. No, that’s not a typo: just $1. Their rationale was that the developments will bring greater tax revenues in the future, and that may be valid, but this city manager’s process of pitching projects to council (which always just goes along 100% with whatever he suggests, just as they are currently doing to start renovating a city jail we don’t need) is to send out a Request for Qualification (RFQ) for these big projects (with no input from city residents) and then choose one of the respondents as their exclusive developer … before knowing what the developer’s bid will be. How many of us would hire a contractor for house renovations before getting a bid, or at least 3 bids? The only way we would do that is … if we knew the contractor personally and trusted them to charge by the hour. Is that what’s happening inside our city manager’s office? Possibly. He’s an attorney by trade with no known business management training or degrees.

• Pioneer Park Bathroom Cost City Taxpayers $1.66 Million

Maybe that’s why the renovation of the Pioneer Park bathrooms cost $1,660,400. Yep, that’s over $1.66 million for a bathroom, directly out of our Tier 3 Capital Funds. Nice bathrooms are needed with all the events happening at Pioneer Park, and also for the Spray Park which is used by so many families throughout the summer. But really? Can you imagine the mansion you could build with multiple kitchens and several bathrooms for that kind of money? And on land you already own. Maybe a pricetag of $660,400 with union labor, compliant with accessibility laws, and upgraded plumbing (and hey, considering it’s a government project) but that extra $1 million could have at least saved us from council’s 6% property tax increase this year.

Speak your piece at tonight’s city council meeting … or just vote before November 4th. In the meantime, tell us what you think and take the survey for District 1, District 2, or District 3 and click on those links for result updates as we catalog them on Tuesdays.

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