Seattle Proposition 1 replaces an expiring transportation levy, raising a maximum of $1,550,000,000 over eight years to spend on 11 transportation-related program categories. Ordinance 127053, in Section 6 and Attachment A, later in this pamphlet, describes these categories and the amounts of money dedicated to them.
Each category’s amount may be changed by ordinance – by a simple City Council majority, if the change is ten percent or less, and by a 3/4 majority if the change is over ten percent. A resident-led oversight committee would monitor and report on program progress.
Separately, this proposition requires the City to appropriate at least $50,740,000 annually (inflation-adjusted) for transportation purposes, using General Fund revenues.
In 2025, the first year of this proposition’s collection, no more than $187,000,000 will be raised. The additional tax rate associated with this proposition’s increase for each property owner would be approximately $0.65 per $1,000 of assessed value, and the maximum rate for the total levy is $2.71/$1,000. RCW 84.36.381’s senior citizens and disabled persons exemption applies.
Without voter-approved levies, the City is generally limited by state law to increasing annual property taxes by no more than one percent above the highest amount that the City could have received in the prior year. After this proposition has finished levying taxes in 2032, that one-percent maximum increase would be calculated as if this proposition had not been passed.
