Chehalis City Hall as seen on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016
Both the city of Centralia and the city of Chehalis decided not to implement the 1 percent property tax levy allowed to them under state law this week.
The Centralia City Council voted on Tuesday 5-2 in favor of not raising the levy on the amount of money the city receives from property taxes. City Finance Director Bret Brodersen said the increase would raise about $6,800 annually for the city.
Mayor Lee Coumbs and Councilor Max Vogt voted in favor of the increase. Coumbs said if the city did not raise the rate now it would lose that money forever because of the way the law is set up. The amount the city will levy against in the future is the same amount the city currently levies against.
Councilor Peter Abbarno said the city already had a revenue neutral budget and more than twice the amount of funds the state auditor recommends to have in reserves, so it did not make sense to raise taxes.
The Chehalis City Council voted unanimously in favor of not taking the 1 percent on Monday, which is how the council has traditionally voted.
