The High Cost of City Growth
When an ambitious land company faced a revolt over unfair property assessments in 1889, it revealed the messy reality of building Seattle from the ground up.
In the ongoing struggle regarding the assessment of property for the year 1889, legal action has been taken against the County Board of Equalization. A writ of certiorari was issued to the board members in their capacity as a board of equalization, requiring said board to show cause why their actions regarding the assessment of the property of the Seattle Land Company should not be reviewed by the court. The petitioners claim the board's order is illegal and void on several grounds: that the assessment was not equalized nor uniform, that the board failed to give them a hearing, and that the board acted in a discriminatory manner against their specific holdings.
“The board failed to give them a hearing... the assessment was not equalized nor uniform.”
Property tax battles and allegations of discriminatory assessment practices against major developers were as much a part of 1889 Seattle as they are today. While the specific legal mechanisms like a 'writ of certiorari' have evolved, the underlying tension remains: how a rapidly expanding city balances the tax burdens of large corporate landowners against the needs of the municipality.
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