Palouse Levy-Lid Lifts Information

Information on Levy Lid Lifts 

In the next few weeks voters will begin to receive their ballots for the November 5, 2013 general election.  Along with our annual Street Maintenance and Swimming Pool levy requests voters will be asked for the first time to consider a “levy-lid lift” measure.

“Lid-lift” measures reset the base line folks pay in property tax.  Currently the city of Palouse collects approx. $2.49 per $1000.00 of assessed value.  The ballot request seeks to “lift” that value to $3.10 per $1000.00 - an increase of 60 cents.  In everyday terms it would mean that a home with an assessed value of $100,000.00 would see a $60.00 increase in their yearly taxes.   

 
A similar measure was passed by voters in Pullman just last month.                

Monies generated from this request will be utilized in two basic areas - our Current Expense fund and a proposed new effort to re-capitalize our Fire Department.

Support from Olympia with state shared revenues (monies collected statewide and re-distributed back into our communities) have been on a steady decline over the last ten years.  These funds have historically gone into our Current Expense fund.  Our Current Expense account funds a host of city programs including our cemetery, a portion of employee wages, our parks, our Police and Fire Departments, etc.  A good example of belt tightening that has occurred in this area is when our employees were asked to take a 3% salary reduction several years ago.  Revenues generated from the proposed lid lift will help keep the programs and amenities we enjoy in Palouse strong.

The city is also proposing a new long-term strategy of setting aside up to 10% of our local property tax monies into our Fire Department Equipment Reserve Account.  Chief Bagott has done a tremendous job leading our Fire Dept. and has developed a long-term strategy to keep the Fire Department strong.  This will require a commitment of approximately $150,000.00 from the city to be set aside over the next ten years.  The proposed levy-lid lift measure enables the city to meet this objective. 

Thank you for your consideration of all our upcoming ballot measures and remember to mail in your ballot by November 5, 2013.