After Court Fight, Seattle Tries Again to Bill Yesler Avenue Property Owners
City Engineer Thomson files a new assessment roll for grading Yesler Avenue, shifting $21,053.58 onto abutting owners and $16,762.16 onto the city.
Yesterday City Engineer Thomson filed the new assessment roll for the improvement of Yesler Avenue, from a point midway between South Fourth and South Fifth streets to Williamson Street. The thoroughfare was graded in 1887, but many of the property owners refused to pay the grade tax. The matter was taken into the courts, and the supreme court held that the assessment was not a valid one. The last legislature, however, passed a law vesting the council with authority to create a local assessment district of the property abutting on this street. This was done, and the city engineer's figures show the cost to be $37,815.74, of which the city must pay $16,762.16 and the property owners $21,053.58.
“The supreme court held that the assessment was not a valid one.”
Seattle’s 1895 fight over who pays for street grades—abutting owners or the whole city—rhymes with today’s debates over sidewalk repairs, transportation levies, and impact fees. The legal reset shows how infrastructure costs get reallocated through courts and legislatures.
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