Evan Smith: Meeting on Shoreline tax rate March 31

By Evan Smith
ShorelineAreaNews Politics Writer
 
The property-tax rate in Shoreline will be the topic of a meeting Wednesday, March 31 at 7 pm.
The groups “Vision Aurora” and “Pro-Shoreline” have announced the meeting at the Shoreline Historical Museum to hear Shoreline City Manager Robert Olander and City Finance Director Debby Tarry talk about City financial problems and ways to deal with them.

The sponsoring organizations note that Shoreline faces serious decisions about its finances.

An announcement of the meeting noted that a 2001 voter-approved initiative limited cities to an increase in property tax revenue of 1 percent per year unless voters authorize a higher rate.

The announcement said this:

"Our largest source of revenue, property tax, has been limited to 1 percent increase per year.

"Since 2001 inflation has increased by 27 percent while the City's property tax has increased by just over 9 percent.

"We are now at the point the city can no longer maintain the current level of city services with the current level of revenue.

“The citizens of Shoreline have a decision to make as to the future direction of our city.

"We can cut services; we can choose to increase taxes so they are more in alignment with inflation; or a combination of both.

“We cannot continue the current status as the city is required, by law, to have a balanced budget.

“As this is a critical matter, Pro Shoreline is sponsoring an ‘informational’ meeting March 31. Pro Shoreline has no position on this subject and the meeting is to assist others in becoming better informed.”

The announcement said that Olander and Tarry will review the situation in depth and discuss possible steps to resolve the problem and will take questions.