Vancouver sends lower property tax hike to November ballot after failure of previous levy

Yahoo

a day ago

PORTLAND, Ore. () — Nine months after to increase police funding, city leaders have voted to send another public safety levy to the November ballot.
Vancouver City Council unanimously approved Proposition 5, which could hike the local property tax levy by 15 cents for every $1,000 of assessed value, on Monday. If approved by voters in the upcoming election, the increase is expected to generate another $5.6 million for public safety services annually for six years starting in 2026.
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The levy would also help the Vancouver Police Department pay for new equipment and vehicles, and hire up to 13 officers.
'Vancouver continues to grow, and with that growth comes new demands on our officers,' VPD Chief Troy Price said in a statement. 'Proposition 5 is a direct response to those demands.'
Last November's Proposition 4, which was rejected by 52.33% of voters, would have funded up to 80 new officers and 36 non-sworn positions. It also would have increased the property tax levy by 41 cents, generating another $15.5 million for VPD in its first year alone.
'One of the things that we learned in really surveying the community after Proposition 4 failed was that there were a lot of things thrown in there, and different items of it really gave people pause for whether or not they wanted to approve it or not,' Vancouver City Manager Lon Pluckhahn said during Monday's meeting.
While Pluckhahn listed the amount of the proposed hike as one point of contention for voters, another was the 5% increase that would have gone into effect annually through 2030. The decision to include a single-year increase in the new proposition was one of several changes recommended by the Police Advisory Committee.
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The newly-proposed levy is just one aspect of Vancouver's three-part strategy for investing in public safety, according to the city manager. Officials also plan to utilize the statewide in late July, and to apply for a administered by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
Vancouver's upcoming general election is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 4.
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