Annexations and municipal boundary changes
Annexations are filed quarterly and a missed filing date means 1/4 of annual revenues are lost for population. The minimum processing time prior to filing is two weeks and census edits or missing documents can delay processing
- Central annexation tracking system
- Annexation certification process
- Forms, manuals, and training
- Annexation reports
- Quarterly
- Cumulative annexation data (decade and annual change)
- Annexation database (by OFM approval date)
Advisory notice
Under statutes RCW 35.13.260, RCW 35A.14.700, and RCW 43.62.040, the count of population and housing in annexations or other boundary changes shall be made in "accordance with practices and policies, and subject to the approval of The Office of Financial Management (OFM)." Therefore, when contracting for these services, local jurisdictions should ensure that the consultant, by contract, is required to follow OFM's guidance and that their work be acceptable to OFM who must approve the results. Failure to follow the proper process could result in cities having to recount the annexed population and housing, costing additional funds.
Information for cities interested in annexing large populations
The legislature passed RCW 82.14.415 to encourage cities to annex high cost areas. This incentive only applies to selected cities. RCW 82.14.415 provides tax incentives to cities annexing areas of 10,000 or more population for ten years after annexation. These cities annexing under RCW 82.14.415 are required to count the population according to RCW 35.13.260 and RCW 35A.14.700. For more detailed information, read about it here.
