At the Auburn City Council meeting Dec. 15, the council authorized Mayor Nancy Backus to strike an agreement between the city and King County and to accept the city’s share of the county’s 2026-2031 Parks Property Tax levy.
Estimates are that the city will receive about $934,000per year for the next six years for specified park improvements. In the current levy (2020-2025), which expires Dec. 31, 2025, the city has received $369,000 annually, making it eligible to apply for various King County parks levy fund competitive grants.
County voters approved the measure in the August 2025 special election.
One spendy project that looms large for Auburn is the development of the former Jacobsen Tree Farm into a new city park on Lea Hill at 29387 132nd Ave. SE.
One of the main differences between the present and future levy is that competitive grants for capital projects are no longer available. Instead, the county has distributed the levy money to cities to use on any park improvement projects those cities deem necessary, rather than leaving the decision up to the county’s grant committees.
In 2003, the county divested itself of local parks and facilities in urban unincorporated areas because those areas were slated to annex to cities under the Growth Management Act.
Since then, on recommendation of the Metropolitan Parks Task Force, and with direction from the county executive and King County Council, the county’s Parks and Recreation Division has focused on managing a system of regional parks, open spaces and trails and a limited set of regional active recreation assets consistent with its role as a regional and local rural service provider under countywide planning policies and the GMA.
The county owns and operates 32,000 acres of regional and local parks, consisting of park lands and more than 185 miles of regional trails. In addition, the county provides regional recreational facilities, regional natural areas, regional parks, and local parks in unincorporated areas.
In April 2025, the county council called for the Aug. 5, 2025, special election to authorize a six year property tax levy in excess of the levy limitation for specified park purposes.
Proposition No. 1 Parks Levy authorized the additional levy at a rate of $0.2329 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in the first year. It also limited annual levy increases to the county’s inflation-plus-population index published by the King County Office of Economic and Financial analysis, or stat limitation, whichever is greater in years two through six to:
• Improve parks, recreation, access, and mobility in King County by acquiring lands and continuing to develop and support parks, recreation facilities, and regional trails;
• Improve parks and trails in lands by metropolitan areas and acquiring parks districts, towns and cities in King County;
• Fund environmental education, maintenance and conservation programs at the Woodland Park Zoo; funding environmental education, maintenance and conservation programs at the Seattle Aquarium;
• Fund development, maintenance, and programming for Seattle’s Waterfront Park;
• Fund environmental and climate stewardship and education at Pacific Science Center;
• Fund a capital project at Memorial Stadium; and
• Fund capital improvements at public pools, for everyone.
For each completed capital project funded with the levy proceeds, the city has agreed to install a permanent sign at a common access point of the park facility’s premises with the following language: “This project was funded (or as applicable, funded in part) with proceeds from the Parks Levy in August 2025 under an Agreement with King County parks and Recreation Division.” If the city has not installed its own sign, it will be required to install a sign provided by the county.
