Drafter

Clerk 04/07/2026

Title

AN ORDINANCE approving King County's partial participation in the city of Bellevue's Tax Increment Financing project, as authorized in RCW 39.114.020; and specifying conditions on the county's participation.

Body

PREAMBLE:

Under RCW 39.114.020(1)(c)(ii), the city of Bellevue is authorized to enact a tax increment area up to $500,000,000 in combined assessed valuation, but only if the area is connected to Interstate 405, transportation-related public improvements will be funded to enhance the integration and connection of neighborhoods within the area, and the city enacts the tax increment area via ordinance by June 30, 2026.

Under RCW 39.114.020(1)(c)(ii)(D), a governing body of any taxing district within the increment area may approve by a majority vote the taxing district's partial or full participation in the tax increment project, according to the governing body's ordinance and publication procedures.  If the governing body does not approve its participation, the taxing district's property taxes are not subject to apportionment.

King County has provided leadership regionally in the formation of multimodal transportation systems, including the forty-two-mile Eastrail corridor as well as in Sound Transit leadership and decision-making roles. King County supports transportation improvements to improve mobility within downtown Bellevue, new commercial and residential construction to support economic development, and pedestrian-oriented improvements linking the EastRail Corridor, the recently upzoned Wilburton neighborhood, downtown Bellevue, and Meydenbauer Bay park.

The city of Bellevue's Grand Connection Crossing will connect downtown Bellevue to the Eastrail Corridor and to the Wilburton neighborhood, where new local housing policies have incentivized affordable housing development.

Those improvements and new construction activated by the city of Bellevue's Grand Connection Crossing are not assumed to occur at the same level without additional financing tools dependent on King County's participation in the tax increment area.

City of Bellevue staff have provided King County with assurances that the tax increment area can be successfully enacted with safeguards for county taxpayers, limitations on apportioning voter-approved King County levies, and caps on the longevity of the tax increment area.

                     BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  King County approves its partial participation in the city of Bellevue's tax increment area, subject to the following conditions:

                     A.  King County commits to a maximum of $30,000,000 in support for the Grand Connection Crossing through apportioned property tax revenues from the allowed components of the county levy for 2028 through 2051, reduced by any revenues received by the city of Bellevue from the King County Transportation District, or its successor.  Cumulative apportioned property tax revenues, reduced by any revenues received by the city of Bellevue from the King County Transportation District or its successor, that are in excess of $30,000,000, shall not be apportioned by the county assessor to the city of Bellevue;

                     B. King County's apportioned property tax revenues for each calendar year will be reduced by the amount equal to revenues received by the city of Bellevue from the King County Transportation District or its successor, in the previous calendar year. King County's apportioned property tax revenues for each calendar year cannot be less than zero;

                     C.  Once King County's maximum apportionments have been met as specified in subsection A. of this section, the county assessor will cease apportionments from the County levy, regardless of whether the tax increment area is fully sunset or whether the sponsoring jurisdiction has provided the certification described in RCW 39.114.050;

                     D.  The city of Bellevue must, at least annually, reimburse King County for documented assessor and treasury costs;

                     E.  The city of Bellevue will provide King County with a list of planned public improvements, an annual report of public improvement expenses for the Grand Connection Crossing, and an annual report of the city of Bellevue's affordable housing accomplishments including but not limited to the number of new affordable housing units created, by Area Median Income category, by April 1 of each year throughout the duration of the city's tax increment area; and

                     F.  County property tax revenues shall not be apportioned from voter-approved levies or levy lid lifts or their successors, whether currently enacted or approved through 2041.  Apportioned levies are limited to the county's current expense, human services fund/mental health, veteran's aid, transportation, marine, and county hospital levies or their successors.  New levies adopted after the effective date of this ordinance are exempt unless specified otherwise in their enacting ordinances.

                     SECTION 2.  The authority granted in this ordinance is supplemental to all other powers of the county, and nothing in this ordinance shall be construed as limiting or restricting any powers or authority conferred upon the county by law.

                     SECTION 3.  Severability.  If any provision of this ordinance or its application to

any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.