Outside of the City of Spokane, more than 30 items are up for a vote in Spokane County — although any individual Spokane Countian does that have a ring to it? These are not items that affect all , of us equally. We intuitively understand the societal harm of our kids reading from current affairs textbooks that talk about Nixon opening China in the present tense.
And of course, as humans — the imagination animals! The language runs the gamut from arcane to jargon-filled. Is it replacing a tax or raising a tax? You have to do your job very soon — make sure to return or postmark your ballot by 8 pm, February 13 this coming Tuesday — so we are doing our job right now. There are 27 ballot drop boxes around the county. Find the closest one to you here. The first trick to understanding the ballot is to know some of the common terminology.
Most items up for election this round are levies — votes to authorize property taxes. Who pays property taxes? Though there are exceptions, property taxes are paid by property owners. If you own a home, you are a property owner. If you rent, your landlord does. A replacement levy asks voters if they want to continue charging the property tax property owners already pay for whatever service is on the ballot.
Levies for operating schools, libraries and such usually expire after a set number of years, at which point voters need to vote on a new levy. A replacement levy does not always match the precise percentage of the levy it replaces because the taxing authority assesses shifts in property values before deciding the percentage, but it is usually similar. This reflects a growing economy more than a tax increase. If the replacement levy fails, the services that had previously been funded by the levy could go away as well.
A capital levy is a one-time property tax that is usually tied to a specific project or projects. In Washington, this is often the construction of new schools, renovations of existing schools or large maintenance projects. The projects are generally specified in the ballot resolution. If passed, the project would be funded and move forward. Sometimes capital levies pay for the cost of an entire project, but just as often they act as the local portion of a funding scheme that also includes state, federal and potentially even private dollars — either grants or loans.
