Recently, our neighboring City of Puyallup received a lot of press about what they would do with their tax rate after their fire annexation.  The news had a few Sumner citizens trying to remember what happened here last year after our own fire department annexed into East Pierce Fire & Rescue.  The short answer is that only the names changed but not your overall rate. 

 

Here's the long(er) answer: when your property taxes are collected, they are divided among different jurisdictions, including the city, state, county, etc.  East Pierce became another jurisdiction getting a share.  However, a significant piece of what you were paying to the City of Sumner (approximately $1.90 per $1000) was used for fire service, so the City removed that portion, and it was reallocated to East Pierce.  After doing that, the remaining City portion in 2008 was about $0.44 per $1000.  The City Council could have increased the City's rate last fall, but they chose against an increase.  In short, about $1.90 of the taxes you were already paying just migrated from under the name "City of Sumner" to "East Pierce" but you are not paying any greater amount overall.