Seattle annexation? 2 new developments: Tax credit passes House; gathering set at Dubsea

Two developments regarding the possibility of Seattle annexing what’s left of unincorporated North Highline:

TAX CREDIT PASSES: The bill that would provide funding for the costs of annexation, by diverting some state sales tax to an annexing city, passed the State House on Tuesday, 64-33 (with both representatives from this district, Rep. Eileen Cody and Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, voting yes). It had already passed the Senate – where it was sponsored by the 34th District Senator Sharon Nelson – so the final step is for it to be signed into law.

‘IF’ GATHERING ON MARCH 17TH: We don’t know where this has been officially announced, but we just happened onto it via social media – the City of Seattle’s annexation point person Kenny Pittman is hosting a conversation at Dubsea Coffee in Greenbridge at 5:30 pm on March 17th, “If White Center Were to Become a Seattle Neighborhood.” Here’s the Facebook event page, which says a county representative will be there too – e-mail Pittman at kenny.pittman@seattle.gov with questions. He had told a West Seattle community council earlier this year that the prospect of moving ahead with annexation was on hold pending the passage of the aforementioned tax-credit bill, but that if all factors aligned, the issue could be sent to North Highline voters as soon as next year.


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15 Responses to “Seattle annexation? 2 new developments: Tax credit passes House; gathering set at Dubsea”

  1. Top Hatter Says:

    Woo Hoo! North Highline and White Center to Seattle needs to happen. Should have happened decades earlier. Cheaper taxes than King County, better services, REAL representation, and a place at the table.
    Make it so!

  2. New rents just went up $100/mo on this announcement. More to follow, when Seattle up-zones entire blocks, tears down market rate affordable housing, and raises property taxes. Becauuuuuuuuuse: the city doesn’t have the spare revenue to support WC. They will be spending it on a new basketball arena and $100s of millions in traffic mitigation for the games. Get ready to move south.

  3. Top Hat Area Says:

    Here is a post taken from the West Seattle Blog Forum Board.

    I use water efficiently as well and don’t water my grass. My bill is already close to $400 so I can’t afford to water anyway. 4 people so I guess our water usage is from showers and laundry. Only wash on full loads.

    Wondering if there water bill is normal or not.

    Can you afford a $400.00 water bill for 2 months? I can’t.

  4. Top Hat Area Says:

    No, we should not be annexed to Seattle. I for one cannot afford to live in Seattle.
    If you annex to Seattle, every thing is going to cost you a lot more money. Your property taxes will go up, your state sales tax will increase, you will pay more for your car tabs, If you have a Business, you will pay more for Business & Occupation Tax, plus you will have to re-new your Business License every year.
    All of your utilities will be higher as far as water, sewer and garbage. If your waste cans are not set 2 feet apart, you will be charged an additional fee, if you have recycling in your garbage can, vice versa you will be charged an additional fee.

    Make sure you read the post on Rental’s. That will affect anyone who has a rental in North Highline. The schools will remains Highline, the library might change to Seattle, Permits and Zoning will become Seattle, Fire and emergency services, will become Seattle, Animal control will become Seattle, Police service will become Seattle and there having a hard time funding there own Police department and are short handed. Court services will become Seattle unless it’s small claims.

    I am not a registered voter, but I would register just to vote against this Annex. North Highline, does annex to Seattle, I would be the first one to put my house on the market and get out.

    Don’t let them not tell you everything that is going on with this Annex. If you noticed, the Rental Property came from another blog, that most people probably don’t even read.

  5. Top Hat Area Says:

    Can you afford a $400.00 water bill for 2 months for a total of 4 people? Like some of us, we are retired and on a limited income.

    How many businesses will close because of higher rent, taxes or they can’t afford to pay employees $15 an hour for employees.

    I believe that Seattle wants to annex North Highline, because of the money that they will receive. Quite an increase from what Burien was going to get. There looking for $$$ from us. I also believe that if we are annexed, that the area will be neglected.

    Maybe even become a Ghost town, because of people wanting out of the community because they can’t afford to live here or business closing.

    Dobkin said she thinks taxes and other costs would increase, not decrease. She said crime rates in the area are lower than rates across the Seattle border.

    “There are more questions than answers,” Dobkin said, pointing a finger at county officials for allowing the area to suffer. “We need to have an honest conversation.”

    Seattle has enough of there own problems without adding more to it.

  6. Hi – please do NOT cut and paste large amounts of text from other websites. It’s a violation of copyright law, among other things. We have not approved a couple of comments here that would have broken those rules, such as the attempt to cut and paste the entirety of Daniel Beekman’s Seattle Times story – you’re welcome to repost a comment with a link to it (you can get the link for any web story by either copying it from the window atop your browser, or right-clicking on its headline) and any comment you choose to make about what you find interesting about it, in your own words). Thanks!

  7. Top Hat Area Says:

    Thanks Tracy, wasn’t aware.
    Could you please remove the same post that was accidentally posted twice on the White Center Blog.

  8. We don’t have any affiliation with that website.

  9. Hi Top Hat Area,

    Just to take one of your claims, can you show where is the evidence that water would be more expensive after an annexation to Seattle? I’m in the unincorporated area and already purchase my water from Seattle Public Utilities. Web pages showing the rates here and there would be sufficient. Thanks!

  10. I live in WC and get my water from Water District 45. The maintenance of infrastructure is a benefit of being served by the special purpose district.

    http://waterdistrict45.com/rate.html

    I understand that Seattle’s sewer rates are higher because of the higher cost of water.

    http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/WaterRates/ResidentialWaterRates/index.htm

    Do you pay utility tax on your water bill?

  11. I pulled our water and sewer billing info. Our bill from Water District #45 was $31.25 for one month. (A Fixed Base Rate of $19.00; our Consumption Cost was $12.25 for 7 cubic feet of water.) SW Suburban Sewer just increased to $31.00 a month. Neither bill included a utility tax.

  12. Interesting one home has a $400 water bill and this “top hat area” character thinks everyone’s bill is going be that much.Similar tactics were used when burien was voting on this that utility cost would skyrocket forcing people out of their homes. When in actuality taxes only went up by about $7. These are scare tactics used by people like Pat lamoine and others in white center and the top area.These people will come up anything and try to make it sound worse than it actually is. Like oh my god there more police from another city patrolling my neighborhood they must be trying to force me to vote for annexation theres no way they could be helping other officers searching for a suspect. Or oh my god if this annexation goes through I won’t be able to light off my already state wide illegal fireworks anymore. http://www.wsp.wa.gov/fire/docs/fireworks/device.pdf

  13. Thank you Liz for providing a data point.

    I’d love it if folks (pro and con annexation) would come with evidence to back up their claims but it never seems to happen.

    In the interest of disclosure, I guess I fall on the “pro” side; in fact I kind of would prefer a Burien annexation (voted yes a few years ago). At least they can keep their roads paved, etc. But I don’t feel strongly about it since it’s hard to say what would really change and, as Jimmy points out, change would probably be minor in most cases.

    To be honest though, given that I seem to remember the voting split being 60+% against and 30-something% for last time, it seems like Seattle has a long row to hoe when it comes to persuading the North Highline citizens to vote yes this time. What happens if there’s a vote and it gets rejected again?

  14. I too am on Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle City Light; my homeowner bills have been manageable, there are summer rates and winter rates to also think about; these services offer low-income rates as well as budget plans for electricity. We are billed every two months, that being said the highest consumption during winter for electricity was around $240-$269; we do have gas heat and winter rate highest for 2015/2016 was $82. This is based on average consumption and no discount. Overall the City and Washington Natural Gas rates fare well compared to other parts of the country.

  15. Here is a link explaining how small business’s under 500 employees will not have the $15 minimum wage until 2021 in Seattle

    http://murray.seattle.gov/minimumwage/#sthash.l7f5jZEL.dpbs