Nearly 70 local elected officials call on Legislature, Governor to pass new revenue measures

March 27, 2025

King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda joined nearly 70 other elected officials this week in calling for the state Legislature and Governor to pass statewide progressive revenue measures and allow increased local authority over taxation.

In a letter (FULL TEXT BELOW) sent to the Governor and House and Senate leaders on Wednesday, Mosqueda and other leaders called for passage of SB 5798/HB 2049 to lift the 1% property tax cap, SB 5775 to provide councilmanic authority for a public safety sales tax, and HB 2015 to allow for a local option tax to support public safety.

The measures come as not only the state but counties and cities across the state face glaring budget deficits that could require cuts to vital services including public safety, public health and more. King County is facing a $150 million shortfall in the 2026-27 biennial budget.

“Our tax code hasn’t been significantly updated in 100 years. While our statewide population has grown significantly, we are not collecting enough revenue for the investments needed to support our communities and economy, including funding for infrastructure, housing and human services, public health, and public safety, to name a few,” Mosqueda and others wrote in the letter. “In order to avoid deep cuts and to put us on a path towards more resilient and sustainable budgets, we need additional revenue tools.”

Read the full letter below:

An Open Letter from Local Elected Officials Across Washington
Regarding the Need for New Revenue to Avoid Cuts to Critical Services

The Honorable Governor Bob Ferguson
The Honorable Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen
The Honorable Senator June Robinson, Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee
The Honorable Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins
The Honorable Representative Timm Ormsby, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee
The Honorable Representative April Berg, Chair of the House Finance Committee 

RE: Local Jurisdictions Need New Revenue

Dear Senate Majority Leader Pedersen, Senator Robinson, House Speaker Jinkins, Representative Ormsby, Representative Berg, and Governor Ferguson,

As local elected officials from across the state, we know firsthand how our regressive and outdated tax code hampers our ability to serve our constituents. Our tax code hasn’t been significantly updated in 100 years. While our statewide population has grown significantly, we are not collecting enough revenue for the investments needed to support our communities and economy, including funding for infrastructure, housing and human services, public health, and public safety, to name a few. A 23-year-old state law limits the ability of local jurisdictions to increase property taxes to just 1% plus the revenue from new construction per year, and with few revenue options under state law, our local county and city revenues have not kept up with inflation and population growth. To compound our revenue crisis, federal cuts and programmatic erosion stand to exacerbate the state and local budget challenges and threaten the health of our communities and the stability of our economies.

A majority of our budgets are mandated by state or federal law, contracts, or legal agreements. Consequently, potential cuts to make up the budget deficits would be concentrated in programs protecting public health and safety, and services relied upon by our most vulnerable communities. We are forced to over-rely on property tax revenue, which makes up 60% or more of county general fund budgets. With state-imposed limitations on property tax increases, combined with high inflation and very few sources of additional revenue, we now face budget deficits totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Cuts of this magnitude would be the most serious our communities have experienced since the Great Depression. However, unlike in past recessions, due to the structural nature of our budget deficits, cuts would not be restored through economic recovery. In order to avoid deep cuts and to put us on a path towards more resilient and sustainable budgets, we need additional revenue tools. As legislative leaders, we respectfully request your support for local municipalities and counties, and in turn, support for all Washingtonians.

We, the undersigned, have come together to ask that you consider all new sources of revenue. 

This includes local revenue tools like SB 5798/HB 2049 to lift the 1% property tax cap, SB 5775 to provide councilmanic authority for the 3/10ths percent public safety sales tax, and HB 2015 the local option public safety 1/10th percent sales tax which would provide critical criminal justice support through a law enforcement grant program, supplemental criminal justice distributions, and a local option sales tax. In addition, we support state solutions for a more balanced tax code such as the Intangibles Tax, a Statewide Payroll Tax, and Large Corporation B&O Premium tax, the REET bills, and other more equitable revenue generating options. We also support the creation of local options for some of these tools (like a local option payroll tax) that could add revenue to local jurisdictions from sources other than sales and property taxes.

We urge you to support these near- and long-term solutions to ensure stable and sustainable budgeting so that we can take care of all Washingtonians and continue services that people depend on. Ask the wealthy few and profitable corporations to pay more in taxes. Those who have done well in Washington should do right by Washington. Thank you for your work and leadership to help ensure local jurisdictions have additional tools to supplement the strategies that are selected to balance the state budget.

Public opinion research indicates that voters understand and support the need to fund critical services, avoid cuts to programs, and fix our tax code. Voters have told us time and again that they want elected leaders to balance our tax code in order to pay for the things our communities need, like housing, health care, childcare, education. We thank you for your effort to reform our outdated and inequitable tax code and help us leverage policies to raise revenue so that we can deliver the services our local communities desperately need.

Sincerely,

Black Diamond Mayor Carol Benson   

Burien Deputy Mayor Sarah Moore   

Burien City Councilmember Hugo Garcia    

Bothell Mayor Mason Thompson 

Bothell Deputy Mayor Rami Al-Kabra    

Bothell City Councilmember Amanda Dodd    

Bothell City Councilmember Jenne Alderks     

Carnation Mayor Adair Hawkins   

Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias    

Federal Way City Councilmember Lydia Assefa-Dawson

Highline School Board Vice President of the Stephanie Tidholm

Island County Commissioner Janet St Clair   

Issaquah City Council Deputy President Barbara de Michele 

Jefferson County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour 

Kenmore Mayor Nigel Herbig     

King County Executive Dow Constantine    

King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, Chair

King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, District 8

King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski  

King County Councilmember Jorge L. Barón, District 4    

Kirkland City Councilmember Amy Falcone      

Lake Forest Park  City Councilmember Tracy Furutani  

Lake Forest Park City Councilmember Jon Lebo

Lake Forest Park Councilmember Semra Riddle

Lake Forest Park City Councilmember Larry Goldman

Newcastle City Councilmember Paul Charbonneau  

Newcastle Councilmember Sun Burford

Olympia City Councilmember Clark Gilman    

Pierce County Executive Ryan N. Mello  

Pierce County Councilmember Jani Hitchen    

Port Angeles City Councilmember Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin    

Port of Seattle Commissioner Sam Cho     

Port of Seattle Commissioner Fred Felleman    

Port of Seattle Commissioner Ryan Calkins 

Port of Seattle Commissioner Toshiko Hasegawa    

Port of Seattle Commissioner Hamdi Mohamed   

Redmond City Council Vice President Jessica Forsythe    

Renton City Councilmember Carmen Rivera 

Renton Councilmember Ryan McIrvin 

Renton City Councilmember Kim-Khanh Van  

Sammamish Deputy Mayor Amy Lam    

Sammamish City Council Councilmember Pam Stuart   

Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck   

Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss    

Seattle Public Schools Board Director Joe Mizrahi 

SeaTac Mayor Mohamed Egal    

SeaTac Deputy Mayor Iris Guzman      

SeaTac City Councilmember James Lovell 

Shoreline City Councilmember Keith Scully  

Snohomish County Councilmember Megan Dunn

Spokane City Councilmember Paul Dillon   

Spokane City Councilmember Zack Zappone

Tacoma City Councilmember Olgy Diaz    

Tacoma City Councilmember Sarah Rumbaugh

Tacoma City Councilmember Joe Bushnell 

Tacoma City Councilmember Kristina Walker

Thurston County Commissioner Chair Tye Menser    

Thurston County Commissioner Carolina Mejia     

Thurston County Commissioner Emily Clouse

Thurston County Commissioner Rachel Grant

Tukwila Mayor Thomas McLeod

Tukwila City Councilmember Mohamed Abdi

Tukwila City Councilmember Verna Seal

Tukwila City Councilmember Jovita McConnell

Vancouver Councilmember Ty Stober 

Vashon Island Fire and Rescue board member Brigitte Schran Brown