Cashmere to Hold Public Hearing Regarding Property Tax

The city of Cashmere is inviting residents to attend a public hearing on October 26 at 6 p.m. for discussion about the possibility of an increase in property tax.

The city has begun drafting its budget, currently with no proposition to bump up the property tax by 1%, but it's still in the works so it's unknown if the increase is needed yet.

"The consideration that we have is 'okay what will it cost us to do business next year?'," said Mayor Jim Fletcher. "Cashmere dedicates all of our property tax money to our public works fund."

This fund maintains streets and parks.

"We're not increasing everything 1%, we're only increasing the amount of money we collected last year by 1%," said Mayor Fletcher. "Which is a little over $6,000 total increase that we would be imposing on the city."

That increase then is spread out over all the taxpayers in the city according to their assessed value and levy rate that the county assessor sets up.

Under state law, the city is allowed to increase property taxes by 1% each year without a vote by the community, however a public hearing is required.