Would property taxes be lower if Fairwood annexed to Renton or if Fairwood incorporated?
Property taxes tend to be insanely complicated, but if you look at them in some detail, you’ll see that Fairwood’s property taxes would be significantly higher than Renton’s. The way you compare property tax burdens between jurisdictions is by comparing the rates. Go to the following website to see the rates for every King County government: http://www.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/~/media/Assessor/PropertyTaxes/RateBook09.ashx In Renton, the city’s rate is $2.36923 per $1000 of assessed valuation. Renton is a full service city, which means that it pays for its library system out of its general property tax levy. Fairwood would be part of the King County Library System, which is funded by a separate levy. So to do a true apples to apples comparison, you have to cut out the portion of Renton’s property tax levy that goes to libraries. That’s $.24 per $1000 AV, which means you use the rate of $2.12923 per $1000 for Renton when comparing it to Fairwood. The feasibility study assumes that Fairwo
