PORT TOWNSEND — The next City Council will either have to ask residents to approve a property tax hike exceeding 1 percent next fall, or rescind an ordinance passed last week by the current council.
The ordinance places in the municipal code a requirement that any attempt to use “banked capacity” property taxes has to be approved by the voters.
Banked capacity allows governments to recapture property tax increases they left on the table previously.
For example, the council has not raised property taxes each of the past three years, but it could have legally raised them by 6 percent each year.
That means next year, the council could raise the property tax rate by 18 percent in addition to the 1 percent imposed by Initiative 747.
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