Thread by @ElectScott2019

Sure, #TheMasters were cool…but have you tried:

1️⃣Increasing taxes on privately owned golf courses,

2️⃣Using the resulting revenue to build affordable housing, and

3️⃣Decommissioning public golf courses to put public housing on them?

(a thread)🏌🏻‍♂️

There are a number of privately owned golf courses in Seattle, including the 55-acre Sand Point Country Club, which is located in my district.

Data about these courses--and the housing around them--is available from the King County Assessor's public database.

Data compiled by @PoulChapman and my campaign policy director @ItsKelseyHamlin show that these country clubs are unfairly taxed at a dramatically smaller rate than the one that people in the area (and beyond) pay on their homes.

Per campaign correspondence with @PoulChapman:

"Private golf courses receive a massive tax subsidy.

If Sand Point Country Club paid the same tax on land as the homes surrounding it, its property tax bill would increase 7800%, from $36,507 to $2.85 million."

For Broadmoor Country Club, the tax bill would increase about 19,000%--from $34,473 to $6.84 million--if the Country Club paid the same taxes as Broadmoor residents.

Chapman notes that "even if we took the full portion of the property tax bill attributable to land (the surface water fee + the tax on land), Broadmoor CC would pay 2700% more, increasing from $258k to $7.27 million.

Sandpoint CC would pay 2800% more, from $103k to $3 million."

While in a crisis of housing affordability, we're forgoing up to $10m in revenue on land whose owners pay a comically lower tax rate than homeowners.

It's worth pausing to reflect on how unfair and wrongheaded this is.

Data culled from the King County Department of Assessments (tinyurl.com/y65qpytl) show that just *3 houses* in Broadmoor pay more TOTAL taxes than the **entire** 115 acre Broadmoor Country Club.

Meanwhile, King County’s Property Assessor released a valuation of the area’s golf courses in 2017, explaining grimly that “though golf is doing well as a spectator sport, this interest is not translating to new golfers.”

kingcounty.gov/depts/assessor…

Unfortunately, Washington State law is not friendly to cities that search for progressive revenue solutions. State law prohibits tax rates from going up more than 1% without a voter-approved measure in a given year.

Additionally, progressive taxes on land and income are largely decided at the county and state levels...outside the power of Seattle City Council.

So as a City Council, we'd have to work with our state legislature and ask for permission. I would also lend support to an initiative campaign to raise taxes on privately-owned golf courses.

Building political will is part of leadership, and I'm in it for the long haul. 💪🏾🏙

For what it's worth, the NY state leg is currently mulling exactly this kind of proposal--a "highest and best use" mandate that would allow local governments to tax golf courses at a rate commensurate with the surrounding residential real estate. therealdeal.com/2019/04/17/thi…

While we're getting our act together at the county and state levels, you know one thing me and my team *can* action on at City Hall?

⛳️Decommissioning city-owned golf courses, and putting deeply affordable housing on those lots instead.⛳️

Per excellent reporting by @ericacbarnett (tinyurl.com/y3yheya3), the city operates four golf courses totaling 528 acres of *city-owned* land.

Barnett notes that the city spent $8.4 million to operate these courses in 2017.

Barnett summarizes a recently-released report, saying "deferred maintenance needs totaling more than $36 million" will be required to keep these courses--which lose money--in operation.

Last year, the city appropriated $500k from the parks budget to help maintain the courses.

$36.5 million of public money.

Add that number up with the one I said before ($8.4m to operate the courses in 2017)...

...then throw in the $104k the city paid consultants for the report on these courses.

Now you're at $45m for anticipated and accrued golf-related expenses.

2020 Seattle Arts Budget: $14m
'20 Seattle Firefighters Pension: $21m
'18 Seattle Early Learning Funds: $42.6m
'20 Seattle Golf Budget: $45m

someone good at the economy please help, seattle is dying

tinyurl.com/yyamvv4e
tinyurl.com/y3kctxzv
tinyurl.com/y285jzbz

To put $45m in further perspective:

Remember when Seattle City Council was embroiled in a bitter political contest over an Employee Head Tax that would have raised $50m a year for affordable housing by taxing the richest 3% of corporations in the city? cityartsmagazine.com/the-class-warf…

We could have a comparable amount of cash by doing something that municipal government never has to ask permission for:

Executing a local land use decision that makes the best use of city space and money.

Seattle's publicly-owned golf courses should be swiftly decommissioned and replaced with housing.

The parcels on public golf courses could be distributed to non-profit housing providers, for whom the cost of acquiring and readying land is often a prohibitive expense.

Any dollar Seattle spends on golf courses is a dollar it is not spending on preparing the land to absorb more deeply affordable housing.

There could be dog parks, kid parks, trails. Maybe still a hole or two. But mostly, there should be tons of housing.

Many golf courses in Seattle were established in the same era that single family zoning became our city's invisible ink of inequity.

This zoning code made apartment buildings illegal in 70%+ of the city, cementing race/class segregation into our residential grid.

We can't get a mulligan on past mistakes. But if we do things a fairer way now, we can build a vibrant, more inclusive city.

Join my campaign's quest to deliver on a new vision for City Hall at Scott2019.com. ⛳️

(Links & sources to stats available upon request.)