Governor signs onetime property tax cut into law

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed a $391 million bill providing onetime property tax reductions into law.

The bill was enacted after public outrage over large property tax increases were passed last year to pay for K-12 education and took effect this year. Some homeowners saw their property taxes go up by hundreds and even thousands of dollars.

The new bill, sponsored by state Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, uses projected revenue from Washington’s economy to roll back about 40 percent of this year’s state property tax increase in 2019 while continuing to fully fund K-12 education, supporters say.

The measure signed by Inslee Tuesday reduces the state property tax rate in 2019 by 30 cents, from $2.70 per $1,000 of assessed value to $2.40.

That means a median King County home will save $169 on average and in Pierce County the savings will be about $93 a year.