The moment we’ve been advocating on for over 20 years is here and we need your help to show legislators our strong city support. 

A new property tax cap revision bill, SB 5798, was recently introduced in the Legislature and is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate on Monday, March 31 at 4 pm. This AWC-supported proposal allows for an increase to the annual property tax cap to better match population growth and inflation.

The bill also requires a local government to legislatively declare that its broadly defined public safety needs outpace the available resources for those purposes. However, any new funds generated are still expendable as general fund revenues.

Take two minutes now to show your support
If you can only do one thing, let it be this. We need city officials to directly indicate your support on this bill by registering as “Pro” on the legislative record. You won’t need to speak or testify, simply click this link, fill out the short form, select your position as “Pro” on the drop-down menu, and click submit. That’s it!

You can sign in any time one hour prior to the hearing (March 31 at 3 pm). But don’t wait, show your support by signing in “Pro” as soon as possible.

Three ways to engage today:

• Sign-in support of the bill: As described above, simply fill out the quick form to add your name in support on the legislative record. If you need help navigating the Legislature’s system, watch this short video.
• Sign-in support & include written testimony: If you’d like to go a step further, you can instead sign-in and include a short note to the committee about what this would mean for your city.
• Contact your Senators: We expect this issue to heat up quickly, so now is the time to contact your Senators and tell them why we need this critical change and how it would help your city serve your shared residents. This is particularly important if your Senator is one of the 24 who sits on the committee.

Three messages to share with your legislators:
It’s best to share your city’s local story, bolstered by facts and information that line up with what other local entities are saying. Here are a few talking points you can include in your own messages:

• The current cap doesn’t reflect real life: The 1% cap is arbitrary, in that it isn’t connected to any data, and it does not keep up with population growth and inflation. In the last decade, population in Washington has increased on average 1.5% per year, while inflation averages 3% per year. This has created a structural deficit that only worsens every single year.
• It’s optional: Lifting the property tax cap is not an automatic tax increase. It simply gives the option for an elected city council to make the decision to take it or not, based on local circumstances. Even now, not all jurisdictions take the current 1% increase each year. Providing the option gives the flexibility to local governments to balance their revenues to meet hyperlocal community needs.
• It’s modest: This proposal is a modest increase to meet basic, but critical needs. Going from a 1% revenue cap to 3% does not triple property taxes. In fact, raising a city’s revenue cap means that the increased cost for an average homeowner is generally less than $20 per year on average. This small and sensible increased cap would have a modest, but meaningful impact on local budgets. Some communities are in dire need of critical local funding, and this option could really help them.

Dates to remember

SB 5798 is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Monday, March 31 at 4 pm.

AWC legislative priority to lift the property tax cap gets a Senate bill

March 21, 2025

Nearly eleven weeks into session, one big moment we have been waiting for has arrived via SB 5798.

The bill is cosponsored by Senators Jamie Pedersen (D–Seattle) and Marcus Riccelli (D–Spokane) and would allow for an increase to the annual property tax cap to match the combined rate of population growth and inflation.

We expect this bill to be heard next week.

You can help by reaching out to your Senators and letting them know you support this bill and describing how this revenue would help your city.

We thank the cosponsors for bringing this bill forward that cities strongly support.

What the bill does

The bill proposes to lift the current 1% cap up to the combined rate of population growth plus inflation (also known as the limit factor). The bill applies to the state school levy, cities, counties, and special purpose districts. The tax is optional, meaning local governments can decline or take a lower rate if they choose to do so.

Other key provisions of the bill:

• Governments have to declare a need for public safety funding: The councils of cities and towns would need to prove a “finding of substantial need” by declaring legislatively that the estimated increases for spending towards public safety, criminal justice, and community protection services exceeds the estimated increase in available resources for those purposes.
  • Note: Any additional funds generated through these new property taxes are still expendable as general fund revenues.
• Expanded exemptions: The bill introduces a complete exemption for qualifying individuals (such as senior citizens, people with disabilities, and more) on state property taxes.
• Redefines “inflation" geographically: This updates where inflation data comes from. The current method uses the implicit price deflator compiled by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to measure inflation. This bill proposes switching to the annual percentage increase in the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) as also commonly referred to as “inflation,” and would be even more specific to include the eight states and one territory in the western United States, called CPI-U Western.
• Clarifies population change data: Specifies population change as the annual percent increase in the last two years of a taxing district's population based on Office of Financial Management (OFM) official estimates each April 1.
• Establishes administrative duties: The Department of Revenue would notify County Assessors of its limit factors each September 1 and then Assessors would determine and notify taxing districts of its limit factors by October 1.
• Timeline: The bill would impact taxes levied in 2026 and after.

Background information & resources

City sign-on letter to legislators

See which city leaders signed on to AWC’s letter urging the Legislature to revise the arbitrary 1% property tax cap

Local published op-eds in support of lifting the cap

• Everett Herald: Cities needs modest tax hike to meet growing needs
• News Tribune: Washington’s property tax cap is draining local government. It gets worse every year
• Seattle Times: Mayors to WA lawmakers: Lift the local property tax cap

Coalition & resources

As one of our legislative priorities, AWC has been working on this issue for many years. Recently, in efforts to get out in front of persistent misinformation about what the property tax cap is and how it impacts cities and other property tax-reliant entities, we have been working with a broad coalition of supporters to share accurate information about this decidedly complex issue. View the materials below and share them with your legislators.

• Coalition support: Read the coalition’s summary outlining their support
• City fact sheet: Read AWC’s fact sheet on this legislative priority
• Video: Watch our explainer video that dives into why cities need this vital funding option now

Three common myths and how to bust them

As with last year, as this issue gains legislative and media attention, it also picks up speed on a few pernicious myths. Make sure that when you’re talking to legislators, other city officials, and constituents, you bust any misconceptions that you may hear.

Here are some tips for common myth-busters to help you:

• No, it doesn’t raise property taxes exorbitantly: Lifting a 1% revenue cap to match inflation and population does not double or triple your property taxes, as some might imply. As the bill is written, it changes the 101% revenue growth limit for state and local property taxes to 100%, plus population change and inflation (which typically grow 1.5% and 3% per year respectively). It’s a modest increase to meet basic but critical needs: Lifting a city’s revenue cap means that the increased cost for an average homeowner is generally less than $20 per year on average.
• No, it’s not an automatic tax increase: It simply gives the option for an elected city council to make the decision to take it or not, based on local circumstances. Even now, not all jurisdictions take the current 1% increase each year. For some communities, this potential change (to an arbitrary limit put in place a generation ago) to allow a local increase would be a lifeline to support critical services.
• No, it’s not undermining the voters: The voters elected city leaders to make local decisions on their behalf, and city elected officials are immediately responsive to the needs of their constituents. This local option empowers city elected leaders to make decisions close to home on behalf of their residents who delegated them such decision-making power in the first place.