Property taxes are collected by the Washington Department of Revenue and transferred to the appropriate taxing district. For Proposition 1, the Educational Programs an Operations Levy, and Proposition 3, the Technology and Capital Projects Levy, the taxing district is the Northshore School District. Most of our property tax bill is voter controlled; we pay the taxes that have been approved by voters. The exact amount we pay is determined by either the King County Assessor or Snohomish County Assessor; the Assessors determine the amount of our taxes based on what voters have approved, and the assessed valuation of the property in their county. An Assessor cannot increase the amount a taxing district receives; they must follow the vote of the people in their county.

In the pictures below you will see the levy ballot measures presented by the Northshore School District and approved by voters in the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 elections. As you can see all of these levy ballot measures ask for funds to be collected for four years. By state law, levies for schools must be brought back to the voters for renewal. Some other local levies (for libraries and hospitals, for instance) can continue on indefinitely, but not those for schools. Therefore, once the four years of collection are completed, the Assessor cannot give any more money to the Northshore School District based on the vote of these measures.