Kent Seniors United will get help from Mayor Dana Ralph in its effort to find property tax relief for older residents.
Four members of the group met for about 45 minutes Oct. 26 with Ralph and Council President Bill Boyce at the Mayor’s Office conference room at City Hall to discuss what could be done to help seniors fight the continual jumps in property taxes.
Dale Brantner, 76, organized the group this summer and last week presented Ralph with 1,000 signatures of people who want to put a freeze on property taxes for seniors – some of whom are being forced from their homes because of high taxes. Brantner focused his efforts at the city level, but Ralph and Boyce told him the fight needs to start with the Legislature, which has the most power to control property taxes.
“I am willing to work with you to set up a meeting with key legislators to start the conversation,” Ralph said. “I am more than happy to do that.”
Ralph said she will set up a meeting with state Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, and state Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines. Each represents the 33rd District, which covers parts of Kent.
“Everyone in the Legislature has certain things important to them and housing is big for our folks in the 33rd,” Ralph said. “Let’s make a change where it’s impactful, and we have someone in the Senate and the House.
“We have a good relationship with our folks in the 33rd. I’m sure they would be open to a conversation about this and hearing from them about how this works and their thoughts on the process.”
Brantner, a retired insurance agent, said the recent jumps in property taxes have hit seniors hard.
“This was a harebrained idea to get taxes down for seniors,” Brantner told Ralph and Boyce. “Not all of them, but a lot are being pushed right to the limits and forced out of their homes.”
With the next legislative session starting in January, Ralph told the group it’s a good time to lobby legislators.
Brantner said it’s not that seniors don’t want to pay taxes, but he questions why people 65 and older on fixed incomes should carry the same tax burden for schools as younger people who make a lot more money. Schools account for about 52 percent of the property tax burden in King County, according to county documents.
King County has a property tax exemption for seniors with an annual household income of $40,000 or less.
“Let’s get real, who can own a home and live on $40,000?” Brantner said. “I’d like to know who is able to do that. Folks in their late 70s or 80s don’t have any options. And Social Security increases don’t keep up.”
Rudy Terry, a Kent Seniors United member who attended the meeting with Ralph, said he has lived in Kent for more than 50 years.
“A lot of the people are leaving,” Terry said. “They’re getting the hell out of here. We want to keep the people here. We want to pay our taxes. We must find a way to attack it. We need to get together with the Legislature. We need somebody to fight for the changes.”
Brantner said California’s Proposition 13 approved by voters in the late 1970s started as a way to help seniors. That measure limits increases in assessed value to no more than 2 percent each year rather than annual assessments based on market values of homes, the system in Washington that helps cause the large tax hikes with recent double digit increases.
“What they did was took a hammer to the entire California property taxes,” he said. “That would never fly in Washington. But they could take a page out of Prop 13 for senior homeowners.”
Ralph said it’s going to be a challenge to get the Legislature to helps seniors. She said a state initiative from the people might be the way to get changes in Washington.
“That has been the trend in Washington state in recent years, but that’s a big process too with the number of signatures you need,” Ralph said.
Brantner knows change will be difficult.
“But people are frustrated, cynical and disappointed,” he said. “The monkey is on our backs.”
Terry said he joined Kent Seniors United because he read about its efforts to reduce property taxes for seniors and agreed it’s the right move.
“People younger than us think they might not be there but it’ll be three times as hard if we don’t fix it now,” he said. “We are trying to save ourselves and the other people coming up.”
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