Wide-ranging discussion on taxes, revenue by Moses Lake council

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake City Council approved a 1% increase in its property tax assessment Tuesday, but not without a wide-ranging conversation about taxes, revenue and city projects. 

The vote was 5-2 with council members Deanna Martinez and Don Myers voting no.  

City Finance Director Madeline Prentice estimated the increase would add an average of $68 per year to the tax bill for property worth $300,000. Along with the 1% increase, that includes an estimated increase in assessed property value in the city and what Prentice called “banked capacity.” 

Mayor Dustin Swartz said in a later interview that Washington cities have the right to collect up to 1%, the maximum allowable. Moses Lake has collected less than that in some past years. The city then has the right to collect some of the money it didn’t collect in previous years; that’s banked capacity, according to the Washington Department of Revenue.  

Prentice said the city would use about $422,000 of banked capacity. Swartz said the city utilized some of its banked capacity in 2024. 

The total amount collected by the city in 2025 was projected to be about $10.2 million with the tax.  

Swartz said the need for revenue is a sign of the rising cost of running a city or county in Washington. There is discussion at the state level of raising the 1% maximum increase allowed to 3%, he said.  

“A number of counties and municipalities are arguing 1% doesn’t do it anymore,” he said.  

During the council meeting, Swartz said the discussion about raising the property tax limitation is an indication Moses Lake isn’t alone.  

“It’s obvious we’re not the only people in this situation, where you’re seeing the expenses outweigh the revenues,” Swartz said.  

Moses Lake will have to address some big – and expensive – challenges, Swartz said, from city growth to finding adequate water to transportation. City officials have to figure out how to pay to fix those problems, he said.  

“This is the big question we’ve been having,” he said. “Where do we get it? We have a number of other things going on. These are the questions we really need to be asking: how do we pay for that, and how do the citizens contribute to all of that? It will take all of us, I believe, at this point. Regardless of what we do with this vote tonight, we know there’s still work to do.” 

Prentice said city officials are looking for additional revenue and Myers said he would prefer to take advantage of other options first. 

Myers said Moses Lake has property owners on fixed incomes and the increase will have an impact on tight budgets.  

“I would like to look at other funding sources rather than property taxes,” Myers said.  

He said he would prefer an exploration of sales tax. 

“If we’re going to look at other funding sources, I think we can explore the various forms of sales tax and how it may apply to whatever it is we’re trying to accomplish,” Myers said. “I know we did that with the criminal justice sales tax. What other options are there versus property tax?”  

Martinez said she agreed with Myers. 

“I’m concerned that once again, we’re going to the property owners when it’s not just the property owners that are utilizing our streets and our water and everything the city provides,” she said. “I feel like everybody who comes to our city and utilizes its services should help bear the cost and not just property owners.” 

The city isn’t the only entity to levy property taxes, she said, and it all adds up. 

Council member Mark Fancher said growth and the arrival of new industries will change how property taxes are assessed, which will change how much is paid by each group of taxpayers. 

Fancher said council members – and city residents – have to look beyond 2025.  

“At the end of the day, it’s going to take monies that we don’t have or can generate by ourselves to move the community forward,” Fancher said. “I do believe we’ve got some heavy, heavy lifting. We have to get our hands around the revenue side.” 

Council Member Victor Lombardi said the council should be able to explain to, and show, people what the city is doing with their money and Fancher said he agreed with that.  

“We need to do a better job of telling people where all that money’s going,” Fancher said.