ASSESSOR EXPLAINS PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

Notices of up to five- and six-figure dollar increases in property assessments are arriving on white postcards in West End mailboxes.

Questions raised by the boost in assessed property values, as determined by the Clallam County Assessor’s office, were addressed by the Assessor herself on Wednesday, Oct. 22 in Forks.

Clallam County Assessor Pamela Rushton, who serves as an elected official, described how the county came up with new property values in Forks, Clallam Bay and other West End towns to the weekly meeting of the West End Business and Professional Association.

Over 8,000 notices sent out, and value property at 100 percent of market value.

The assessments are made on a six-year cycle, and the calendar year ending Jan. 1, 2008 was the West End’s turn.
She said though property owners were “hit pretty hard this time,” she said, property tax assessments have been mostly artificially low due to the six-year gap in assessing properties.

Some 4,600 properties have received notice of a change in valuation on the West End.

“There’s no reason to over assess anybody,” she said. “We don’t get raises (based on boosting property valuations).”
West End property owners who question their assessment have 30 days from the arrival of their assessment notice to contest the valuation.

“If we find mistakes, we make changes up or down,” Rushton said.

Any sales price changes for properties, up or down, since that date don’t count in the recently posted assessments.
“Prices haven’t nose dived like other parts of the country,” Rushton said of what some local residents see as steep boosts in property values, “and we don’t anticipate a big change in 2009.”

“We physically inspect one-sixth of the county each year,” Rushton said, while Jefferson County assessors are on a four-year cycle of inspections.

She said assessors drive up to homes to determine home values, looking for improvements and sizing up the condition of the property, plus use recent home sales of similar properties in the area, to determine the assessed value.

The physical inspections were a key factor in reappraising the home and property values, she said.

Over the past six years sectors of the real estate market in Clallam County has seen a doubling and quadrupling of sale prices, she said, especially in Sequim and other parts of the eastside.

Forks resident Gordon Barr, who is a member of the county equalization board that independently handles assessed value disputes, attended the meeting.

Barr said at the WEBPA meeting that about two-thirds of such appeals are found to be correctly valued. The phone number of the board is (360) 417-2330.

In collecting property taxes, Clallam County serves as a “collection agency,” she said, that redistributes property tax payments, mostly going out to school districts, hospital districts and other public services that receive levy support from the county.

Taxing districts, like the Clallam County Hospital Districts and the Clallam County Fire Districts, send their budgets to the assessor’s office, and the office comes up with levy rates. Such districts are now mandated by state law with a ceiling of one-percent budget increases per year.

There have been changes in open space assessments, she said, in order to follow state mandates that require equalization for all property owners in Washington state, she said.

One shake mill owner attending the meeting questioned a steep boost in valuation of his recently-purchased mill site.

“I’m glad I didn’t invest in the stock market, now I get this,” he said pointing to the postcard with his new property assessment.

She said the computer database system used to list properties is being upgraded after 30 years, and will make information on properties in Clallam County more accessible once installed.

Rushton said exemptions, and deferments of payments are available in some cases.

If a property owner questions the assessment of their property that may appeal to the Clallam County Board of Equalization.

Exemptions are available for senior citizens, disabled persons, and many nonprofit organizations.

An in-depth look at property taxes and assessments is available online at www.clallam.net/assessor.