Does The City Need to Raise Taxes?

Recent information indicates that the LFP Administration and Council were considering a 17% levy-lid-lift.

At a recent Mayor's Community Conversation get together, the Mayor led off with "This is a meeting is really about why LFP needs a levy-lid-lift."

The median home price in Lake Forest Park is approximately $275,000.

A 17% levy-lid-lift would cost the owner of a median-priced home $7.83/mo.

Later, the mayor revealed that the Council Budget Committee had decided on a levy-lid-lift of $15/mo. This would be a 35% increase!

The levy-lid-lift under consideration would be indexed to inflation and increase each year for 5 years after the first year. It is proposed to continue for 6 years.

It is not clear at all, in the information provided by the City, that the levy-lid-lift would remove the gap between revenues and expenditures permanently. The Mayor has been asked to provide a graph showing the impact of the Levy-lid-lift. He was also asked what cuts to services have been made to date and what additional cuts would have to be made if the levy-lid-lift does not pass.

The County is considering a 0.3% increase in the sales tax. The Mayor said that this would produce $450,000 in revenue for the City; this remains to be verified. If the County Council approves this measure would appear on the August ballot along with the City's levy-lid-lift.

The Mayor said that the details of the levy-lid-lift would be worked out by May so a City ballot measure could be included on the August ballot.

It appears that the Council could still increase our property taxes 1% each year in addition to the levy-lid-lift.

Recently the City raised the storm-water fee 20%, passed a $20 dollar/year vehicle registration tax, and is considering further increases in utility taxes.

From the above, you can see that many questions remain. We trust that the City will provide detailed answers and conduct any ballot measure in an open, informed manner.