Property taxes will jump significantly in most cities

EVERETT — An average homeowner in Snohomish County can expect to see property taxes grow this year by the largest margin in nearly a decade.

Generally speaking, people in Arlington, Marysville, Sultan and Mountlake Terrace will see the biggest change. Depending on where you live, a combination of voter-approved tax measures, a court decision curbing county taxes on tribal lands or mudslide damage might be affecting what you’ll pay.

Treasurer Kirke Sievers’ office planned to mail out tax statements Saturday.

Countywide, there’s a 9.8 percent increase. That figure is based on an average home value of $275,000, whose 2015 bill would rise to $3,313.89 from $3,017.87 last year.

Not since 2007 have tax bills surged more, when they went up by 10.2 percent. Going back a decade, no other year comes close in terms of the year-over-year jump.

Those averages factor in the gamut of local communities, from Everett to Index, Woodway to Darrington.

The tax situation for a given property depends on a specific mix of service districts, including municipal boundaries, schools and fire protection.

For next year, an average Arlington homeowner’s tax bill will rise 16.9 percent — the most in the county. Runners-up are Marysville: 16.4 percent; Sultan: 14.3 percent; and Mountlake Terrace: 14.1 percent.

In most places, the rise is the result of voter-approved tax measures to fund schools and increased city budgets.

The rise in the Marysville area stems from a different reason, though.

It owes mostly to a 2013 federal appeals court decision that stopped county governments from collecting taxes on buildings and other improvements owned by non-Indians on tribal trust lands. Before that ruling, counties already lacked the authority to collect taxes from buildings that Indians owned on those lands.

The case stemmed from Thurston County, which had been collecting taxes on the Great Wolf Lodge resort on I-5.

In the Tulalip area, the ruling affects some 1,200 homes plus big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot at the Tulalip Tribes’ Quil Ceda Village.

Consequently, about $106 million worth of assessed property disappeared from the county tax rolls, deputy county assessor Linda Hjelle said.

“That causes a shift in who pays the taxes,” Hjelle said.

Two separate landslides from last year also took out chunks of taxable property in north and east Snohomish County.

A combined $9.5 million in assessed property was lost because of the deadly Oso mudslide and the large, but non-lethal, slide at Mount Index Riversites. Similar to the federal court decision, the loss of those properties increases the burden for other owners to remain in the same taxing districts.

Snohomish County voters approved the majority of the tax measures on last year’s ballot — 26 out of 32. Most were school district levies.

Only in Darrington did 2015 property-tax bills dip, by negative 5 percent. So did the area’s home values, by negative 7.3 percent. The town’s average assessed home value of $82,000 this year was the lowest in the county. At the other end of the spectrum was Woodway, where an average home was assessed at $1,061,900.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Learn more

More info on tax statements: Call 425-388-3366 or go to www.snohomishcountywa.gov/Treasurer

More info on assessments, levies and exemptions (for senior citizens and people with disabilities): call 425-388-3433 or go to www.snohomishcountywa.gov/assessor

City by city

Average percent change in 2015 property-tax bill, by city:

Arlington — 16.9

Bothell — 4.5

Brier — 11.3

Darrington — minus 5.0

Edmonds — 11.4

Everett — 4.3

Gold Bar — 3.1

Granite Falls — 8.6

Index — 13.0

Lake Stevens — 7.6

Lynnwood — 12.8

Marysville — 16.4

Mill Creek — 4.2

Monroe — 8.9

Mountlake Terrace — 14.1

Mukilteo — 10.4

Snohomish — 8.2

Stanwood — 5.3

Sultan — 14.3

Woodway — 9.4

Unincorporated areas — 9.0

Snohomish County (overall) — 9.8

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.