Burien City Council hears tax reform ideas from King County Assessor, zoning changes, airport, community updates & more

The Burien City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 21, 2024 included presentations and discussions on key issues facing the city.

King County Tax Assessor John Wilson outlined his efforts to reform the tax system, seeking to reduce the burden on residential and small business taxpayers.

Additionally, the council delved into proposed zoning code amendments aimed at promoting transit-oriented development and improving walkability.

Community members also voiced their concerns and suggestions on local issues, including the coming expansion of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the proposed minimum wage ordinance.

Presentation On County Taxes 

The meeting began with a presentation by King County Tax Assessor John Wilson. Wilson shared that King County’s revenue comes mostly from property taxes, and 83% of property taxes come from residential customers. This, he said, is hugely imbalanced. He said that it’s normal for the majority of property taxes to come from residential customers, since they outnumber commercial customers. However, he explained that businesses started paying reduced taxes after covid, and still aren’t paying their share- while King County is home to some of the most successful businesses in the world. 

Another goal that Wilson is working toward is reducing the state’s share of collected taxes, which would leave more for local governments as well as providing every house with property tax relief. He also has a plan to raise the personal property tax exemption from $15,000 to $50,000, as tax relief for local small businesses. In addition, he is working on a rental tax credit.

Under Wilson’s lead, the senior tax exemption has been greatly expanded to allow even more residential users to qualify for a tax break. Anyone over the age of 61 who owns and occupies their home, where household income is $84,000 or less, will qualify. There are three exemption levels, with the highest level saving $6,142 in annual property taxes. The senior exemption portal can be found here.

Wilson said that King County spends 80% of its revenue on public safety, including police, courts, and jails. He said this percentage is way too high and needs to be rebalanced, though he acknowledged that other counties are seeing similar numbers.

Presentation On Code Amendments

Council also heard a presentation on planned amendments to the zoning codes. These changes aim to reduce barriers to desired development, increase transit-oriented development, make the code easier to use, and streamline parking standards. The larger goal is to accommodate a need for more housing at all levels, as well as more jobs to meet a growing population.

Mayor Kevin Schilling shared that he has rogue views on parking requirements, believing that the city should impose no parking requirements at all for new developments. He said Burien has enough parking, and parking requirements add a high cost to developers and make building tough to pencil out. 

Councilmember Akey shared her concerns that she and her husband could not do without their three vehicles, one of which is a work truck; if her condo hadn’t come with three parking spots they might not have moved to Burien. In response it was explained that developers will always have the choice of providing more parking than the minimum required, depending on the market, the buyers they are trying to attract, and the price point.

SW 153rd Street was discussed, with the hope of something in this packet of changes that would help the street to have more walkability and curb appeal. Unfortunately, there is nothing specifically in these zoning changes that will fix SW 153rd, and it has not been designated as a “pedestrian-oriented street.” However, developers could build right up to the sidewalk if they chose to, creating a more walking-friendly area. Mayor Schilling described a photo he saw of SW 153rd from the 1950s, and how it has not changed in any meaningful way in those 70 years.

Council Reports

Councilmember Linda Akey said she was present when King County closed down the tent encampment at the courthouse parking lot. She said every single person there was able to either get into treatment, detox, housing, or reconnect with family, after weeks of working with service providers. She has not heard of any new encampments cropping up since that one was closed. However, she did say there were some people present at closing who tried to interfere with service providers helping the homeless connect with resources to get them off the street.

Councilmember Alex Andrade shared that the “Boo In Burien” is this Saturday, Oct. 26 in downtown Burien. Many local businesses will be participating, passing out candy to trick or treaters from 1pm to 4pm. In addition, Andrade said there will be a Creepy Crawlers Pub Crawl that evening, with a $1,000 prize for the best costumed adult. See link for details.

City Manager Adolfo Bailon said so far there have been 16 applicants who want to be on the pro & con committees for the ballot measure to institute a higher and more comprehensive minimum wage. Five of the applicants are for the con committee and 11 for the pro committee. Burien residents can still apply for committee positions on the city website.

Public Comments

Multiple commenters spoke about the Port’s planned expansion of Sea-Tac Airport. They encouraged the public to get involved and informed. One said the expansion is inevitable, but the city should do everything it can to get lots of mitigation money because more planes overhead will certainly affect quality of life.

Others brought up the minimum wage ordinance that will soon be on our ballots. One said the current minimum wage ordinance that Council passed and which will take effect in January has too many loopholes and lets too many workers down. Another said Burien’s local business owners would be hurt by the ballot measure, as compared with the balanced, well-researched approach the council already decided on. She also thought that the new measure was not well-considered, and that the petition might be in violation of the law.

One community member asked for help in her neighborhood, which she said is still impacted by increased illegal drug use and distribution at a church parking lot that had briefly hosted a homeless camp. 

Video

Watch full video of the meeting here.