Hockinson School District levy proponents argue that a vote for the levy is a vote to increase property values. It’s one of their main talking points, in fact. But Hockinson property values have already been increasing at a dizzying rate. And for most of us, those inflated property values just mean ever-higher property taxes: over 54% higher since 2015.
Hockinson is experiencing rural gentrification, a process in which affluent people move into small towns and rural areas, get involved politically and civically, and shift civic priorities away from the needs of existing residents, toward their own wants and needs. They also simply increase property values by moving into the area, which in turn forces existing residents out.
The ever-higher property values levy proponents prize matter a great deal, of course, to people who sell and leave after their kids graduate. But those folks aren’t the heart of the community.
And neither, for that matter, is HSD, although it has adopted the boilerplate “heart of the community” advertising slogan used by school districts across the state.
A comparison of OSPI’s personnel data with the Secretary of State’s registered voter database shows that over ⅔ of HSD employees live outside Hockinson.
The heart of our community is people who put down roots here. They have no plans to leave. They don’t want to leave. But the effect of skyrocketing property values, and of the resulting skyrocketing property taxes, is to keep forcing out members of our community who are on the economic margins–the old, the disabled, single moms.
I’ve watched a steady exodus of friends and neighbors over the past 10 years, driven out by rising property taxes. And, ironically, rising property values make it almost impossible for our kids, educated in Hockinson schools, to settle in Hockinson and raise families here after they graduate.
A community draws its strength from its diversity. But in Hockinson, those who can afford to remain are, increasingly, affluent people in their prime earning years.
The heart of our community is slipping slowly away.
Continuing to run up property values–which means continuing to force out neighbors who make less than we do–is not how we build or maintain community. We are a strong community only to the extent that we are a real community–not simply a bunch of people who live in proximity to each other, but people who know each other, care about each other, and look out for each other.
One of the levy proponents’ main talking points is that a vote for the levy is a vote to increase property values. Let’s be honest about what that means. A vote for the levy is a vote for higher and higher property taxes–and a vote to force out a few more of our neighbors.
Carolyn Schultz-Rathbun
Hockinson
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