County commissioners raise taxes by 1 percent

Island County property owners will see a slight bump in their property taxes in the coming year.

In addition to approving the budget, the three-member Board of Island County Commissioners also approved a 1 percent tax increase to the county’s current expense levy, county roads levy and Conservation Futures Funds.

During a Monday evening public hearing, Commissioners Helen Price Johnson and Angie Homola voted for the increases while Commissioner Kelly Emerson voted against the increase.

The tax increases will bring in an additional $163,274 to the county’s $67 million budget.

The current expense levy would get an additional $76,402, county roads would get an additional $80,170 and the Conservation Futures Fund would receive an additional $3,702.

During the public hearing, Homola lamented the voter approved initiative in 2002 that capped property tax increases at 1 percent unless otherwise approved by a vote of the people.

“We’ve been unable to follow the inflationary rate for 11 years,” Homola said adding in an interview after the meeting that in the late 1990s, a Republican board of commissioners made a 6-percent tax increase.

 

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