The Port of Olympia and Olympia City Council authorized their respective managements to sign a petition seeking to establish a new taxing district to be called the Downtown Olympia - Downtown Improvement District.
The Port of Olympia Commission on Monday, September 25, authorized Interim Executive Director Rudy Rudolph to sign a petition and committed to include $13,000 from its 2024 budget to comply with the taxes levied by the proposed district.
A day after, Olympia City Council authorized City Manager Jay Burney to also sign the petition.
The city is estimated to pay $33,353 in taxes for the 37 parcels within the proposed district, including the Washington Center, 108 State Avenue, Olympia City Hall, and the Hands On Children's Museum.
A Downtown Improvement District (DID) is a taxing district managed by the private sector to fund improvements and services for downtown properties.
If the DID is established, properties within it would receive cleaning and beautification services as well as benefit from ambassador-style programs that seek to elevate hospitality, safety, and crisis outreach. The DID would also provide training resources to small businesses.
In exchange for these services, property owners would pay a tax that is calculated by four factors: property type, location, street frontage, and the assessed value of a property.
Commercial property owners in the core of the district would pay full price, while residential property owners would pay 75%, and non-profit property owners would pay half of the full price.
Specifically, property owners in the core district would pay the following rates:
Meanwhile, properties in the non-core districts would pay half of these rates as they are not expected to receive the same frequency of services that the core district gets.
Properties owners in these non-core areas would pay the following rates:
Olympia City Council would need to establish the DID through an ordinance after a public hearing.
Before the proposal can be endorsed to the council, it requires a petition supported by the affected property owners. The petition requires 60% support, but not 60% of all property owners, but rather the property owners representing 60% of the assessed value of properties in the district.
This means that owners with properties of higher values would hold greater weight in the petitioning process.
If established, the DID would be administered by the Olympia Downtown Alliance, allowing the district to take advantage of the staffing and services provided by the non-profit.
Chapter 35.87A of the Revised Code of Washington enables the formation of business improvement districts.
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pheong
add this to the pbia scam. what's the point of pbia if this new dun becomes a reality?
Thursday, September 28, 2023 Report this
Oly1963
Seriously? Another tax? For things that they already pay for? Cleaning the streets, making sure the homeless don't harass customers? Ensuring the laws are followed? We already have these services available if the City Council and the Police enforce them. This is just another way for the City of Olympia to pass off their responsibilities and create more revenue. Am I the only person who understands this?????
Thursday, September 28, 2023 Report this
DougRiddels
Any idea why the DID boundary extends across Plum Street, to include businesses outside of what Olympia defines as "downtown"? These businesses don't qualify for any of the benefits of being "downtown," such as no parking requirements. It seems unfair that they would be taxed for something they're not considered part of.
Friday, September 29, 2023 Report this
smithcastle
This is just another way for the City of Olympia to keep tax money for things they should do and abdicate these responsibilities to downtown property owners. We will not be returning our ballots in favor of this money grab that will do little to change anything at our end of "downtown". As Doug Riddels said why all the way to Plum Street? That's just so they can get more $$ for no services. Also, if this poses we'll be requesting an exemption from paying this since the State of Washington, Vine Street Partners and the Port of Olympia all exempted themselves from this new money grab! They try and promote this as a way to improve the downtown economy for business! A better proposal that wouldn't cost the downtown property owners a dime would be to defund and eliminate the parking enforcement division of the City of Olympia and remove all the parking meters. FREE PARKING DOWNTOWN ALL DAY EVERY DAY!! This would remove a barrier to shopping/dining downtown that Lacey, Tumwater and even West Olympia business don't burden their patrons with!
Friday, September 29, 2023 Report this