The city of Auburn estimates the 2020 property tax levy will be $22.4 million, in addition to new construction and the refund levy.

Finance Director Jamie Thomas estimated the levy rate per thousand of assessed value for 2020 will be about $1.81, a decrease over the 2019 levy rate of $1.92 per thousand.

Because King County will not finalize Auburn’s assessed valuation, new construction and refund levies until the beginning of January, Thomas told the Auburn City Council Monday evening, the city will use preliminary information from King County to make its determination.

King County has preliminarily established the 2020 assessed valuation – including estimated new construction for the city of Auburn – at $12.334 billion, which is an 8.1 percent increase over the 2019 level of $11.414 billion. The total 2020 property tax levy will be distributed to the general fund to support general governmental operations.

A public hearing on the property tax levy and the city’s revenue sources is at 7 p.m., Monday, Nov. 18 at Auburn City Hall. The council expects to adopt the property tax levy that same evening.

Thomas said the city will hold another public hearing on the mid-biennial budget adjustment – the 2020 portion of the biennial budget – and adopt the year-end adjustment at 7 p.m., Dec. 2.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces there,” Thomas said.