By this time next week, we’ll have the initial results of the April 22 election in hand.

Voters in the King County portion of the Plateau have just two measures to consider this time around.

The more local measure is the Enumclaw School District’s Proposition No. 1, which is a proposed property tax to fund 32 various repair and upgrade projects around the district, which include replacing roofs, HVAC systems, fire panels, electronic access, and water heaters.

A full list of projects can be found at enumclaw.wednet.edu/page/critical-maintenance-levy-2025.

This capital project levy would add a 37 cent per $1,000 in assessed property value to local property taxes to collect $12 million over the course of four years.

For the average property owner with $600,000 in APV, that calculates out to $18.50 a month, or $222 a year.

However, the tax rate is expected to decrease over the lifespan of the levy because revenue collection is capped at $3 million per year. That means when assessed property values increase, or more taxpayers move into the area, the tax rate has to decrease to compensate.

It’s expected the tax rate could decrease to 33 cents in 2029, though calculating how that will affect annual tax bills is difficult, as assessed property value could also change between now and then.

But initially, when you add the new levy to the total property taxes the district collects, the total tax rate rises from $2.71 to $3.08 per $1,000 in APV. Annually, that’s an increase from $1,628 to $1,848.

FINGERPRINT ID LEVY

Also on the ballot is a measure to re-approve a levy to fund a fingerprint identification system for local law enforcement agencies.

The Regional Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) Levy, known as Proposition No. 1, would fund the continued operation of the AFIS system to provide enhanced forensic fingerprint and palmprint technology along with services to aid in the administration of justice.

The levy would authorize an additional property tax for seven years, beginning in 2026, at 2.75 cents per $1,000 APV. This is down from the 2018 AFIS levy, which adopted a rate of 3.5 cents.

For a homeowner with $600,000 in assessed property value, that’s an additional $16.50 added to their annual tax bill.

According to the ordinance, King County voters first approved the funding of an AFIS computer in 1986 to match unknown fingerprints to known fingerprints.

The King County AFIS database now holds more than two million fingerprint records, more than one million palm print records, and approximately 63,000 crime scene prints from unsolved records; all this information is available to every city in the county.

The program helps law enforcement search for possible suspects from evidence collected at crime scenes and identify people using aliases.

The first AFIS computer was installed in 1988. Three decades later, the information has been upgraded to a cloud-based system.