Originally Initiative 747 had a local option for raising property taxes beyond the 1 percent limit. If a local government wanted to give it a try, they could put it on the ballot and see what their constituents thought.
What makes me wonder about the local option from the original 747 is that from the news coverage (and the governor’s letter), there is no mention of it at all.
I can’t tell whether the governor will introduce a bill that includes the local vote option to go above the 1 percent cap. Olympia is one of the few cities in the state thinking about moving beyond 1 percent in the next few days, and I’m not totally sure that would be “against the will of the voters.”
I-747 passed in Thurston County by 53 percent, five percent lower than the statewide margin. One could assume that Olympia was the anchor that drug down Thurston County’s percentage. One could also assume that 747 lost in Olympia, which makes our council’s inclination towards raising property taxes above the 1 percent limit politically feasible.
I emailed the auditors office for the precinct level data from the 2001 election this morning.
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