By this fall, King County property owners who are behind in their property taxes are expected to benefit from a new program that will allow them to make partial payments on what they owe.
The program, four years in the making, will be implemented as a 36-month pilot program this October. The King County Council voted unanimously for the creation of the program at its June 20 meeting. Councilmember Joe McDermott, who represents Vashon, sponsored the legislation, saying it will help with the housing affordability crisis in the region. Islander Hilary Emmer has worked since 2012 for the creation of such a program. In McDermott’s remarks to the council after it passed the legislation, as well as in a following statement about the program, he credited her for her efforts.
“This proposal will help those who are acting in good faith to catch up on their taxes. I want to commend island resident Hilary Emmer for highlighting this issue for me. Foreclosure — and the threat of foreclosure — is immensely stressful and affects families and individuals in striking ways. The pilot approach will help to minimize impacts on cash flow for the county while we assess participation rates and the value of implementing this program,” he said in an emailed statement.
He added he believes that county officials must consider every opportunity to prevent homelessness and address housing affordability.
“This is one step toward that goal,” he added.
The legislation dictates that the pilot program be established by Oct. 3 and that participation be limited to delinquent property tax accounts where the property is the primary residence of the taxpayer. It also allows the King County Executive to limit the program to low-income taxpayers and to property that has not been found in violation of any code relating to public health and safety. Taxpayers who take part in the program must also pay interest — which state law has set at 1 percent per month — and penalties.
Last week, King County Treasury Operations Manager Scott Matheson said that when the county opens the program this fall, it will initially invite only property owners in tax foreclosure, which occurs when taxpayers are three or more years behind in their property tax payments. Once the program is underway, county officials intend to evaluate and expand it to others who would benefit.
On Vashon, Matheson said, there are approximately 7,500 properties with taxes that must be paid each year. Currently, 759 of those parcels are in delinquency, including 115 delinquent in 2016 only. Twenty-four parcels are in foreclosure. Matheson added that Vashon’s numbers are fairly typical. Throughout the county, taxes for between 15,000 and 25,000 properties are currently delinquent; between 6,000 and 12,000 properties are prior-year delinquent, and between 100 and 2,500 properties are subject to tax foreclosure, according to county statistics.
For her part, Emmer said she first learned that King County would only accept full payments for late property taxes when she was assisting people with their taxes and property tax exemption applications in 2012. A client reportedly told Emmer that she had sent a $500 payment to the county for her delinquent property taxes, but the county returned the money, saying it was unable to accept partial payments.
Thinking that seemed unreasonable, Emmer said she emailed the assessor at the time, who replied that state law required full property tax payments. With that, she sought assistance from Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island), who introduced a bill to allow partial payments. That bill stalled in committee, Emmer said, but another bill on the issue passed the following year.
After that, Emmer frequently spoke with McDermott about the issue — or, as she put it, “I had been harassing Joe constantly.”
After the recent vote, she said she is pleased and noted the long road to get to this point.
“I am really glad they passed this,” she said. “It has taken four years from the time this was brought to my attention for something to happen at King County, so this is good news.”
