Councilmember Hague’s statement on property tax increase vote

May 25, 2010

Summary

Story

Five members of the Metropolitan King County Council, all Democrats, today called for a special meeting of the Council to force a vote on their proposed property tax proposal. The vote came a day after a failed attempt to put a sales tax increase on the August primary ballot. The vote on both measures was 5-4; six votes were required to put it on the August ballot. Council Vice Chair Jane Hague, who voted against the legislation, made the following statement after the vote:

“I’m eager to work out a broad bipartisan solution in which we seriously address King County’s structural budget gap. If this entire process were about ‘voter choice’ as some of my colleagues have suggested, we should at least present them with something we are all committed to. The Council and the Executive have until July 26 to present the voters with a cohesive solution to this problem.”