Tax assessments are good for some, a shock for others

Values take a leap on certain statements

By Rolf Boone | The Olympian • Published October 24, 2008

Comments (0)

South Sound residents have received their property-tax assessments for 2008, and although the median assessment for single-family houses fell 1 percent this year, some residents received a hefty increase that landed with an unexpected thud in their mailboxes.

Tax rate basics

-- The assessor establishes the value of your property, based on the sale of comparable homes. All the taxing districts that serve your property have budgets. Property owners are taxed their portion of the amount of those budgets based on the assessment.

-- Example 1: Four houses are assessed at $100,000 each, and the total budgets for all the taxing districts that serve that property is $1,000. That means each homeowner would pay $250 a year. If a new home is built, the tax would be $200 each. So, while growth eventually brings demand for government services, thereby requiring higher budgets, initially, tax rates often decrease.

-- Example 2: If the next year the same properties are assessed at $200,000 each, and the total budget of all of the taxing districts stay the same at $1,000, the tax still would be $250 for each property owner. So taxes would not go up, despite the increase in valuation.

-- Example 3: If one house was valued the following year at $150,000, two others at $200,000 and a third $250,000 the total collected from all four still would be $1,000. However, the share each property owner would pay would change to $187.50, $250 each and $312.50.

-- Taxing districts are limited to 1 percent growth a year, unless more is approved by voters. So, in the examples, the budget of all the taxing districts could only go up to $1,010.

-- The actually calculations are not that simple because Thurston County has about 115,000 properties and 43 taxing districts, many of which overlap. Districts include the county, cities, schools, fire districts, library, roads and more.

Source: Patty Costello, assessor, www.co.thurston.wa.us/assessor/

About tax rates

A tax rate is determined by dividing a levy amount by the assessed values within a taxing district. For example, an Olympia resident is served by a collection of taxing districts - county, city and school districts. All of those add up to an aggregate rate, Chief Deputy Dennis Pulsipher, of the Thurston County Assessor's Office, said.

This year in Olympia, for example, the city has an aggregate tax rate of $9.72 per $1,000 of assessed value. In Lacey, it's $9.63; in Tumwater, it's $10.06. The 2008 average countywide rate is $9.75 per $1,000 of assessed value, down from a countywide average of $15.48 in 2000, Pulsipher said. Since 2000, average countywide tax rates have decreased because property values the past eight years have outpaced the increase in county, city and other taxing district budgets.

How to appeal

People who want to file an appeal must complete a petition form and send it to the Board of Equalization. Forms can be downloaded from the county Web site at www.co.thurston.wa.us. If you have questions or need a form mailed to you, please contact Ruth Elder, the board's clerk at 360-786-5135 or TDD: 360-754-2933 or e-mail at elderr@co.thurston.wa.us.

Online

To look up assessments of individual properties in Thurston County, go to www.co.thurston.wa.us/assessor/process-Aplus.html.

For more information

Call the Thurston County Assessor's Office at 360-867-2200.

Stop by or send mail to the assessor's office at 2000 Lakeridge Drive S.E., Olympia.

Go to www.co.thurston.wa.us/assessor.

By the numbers

Following are breakdowns of the median changes in property assessments in Thurston County between 2007 and 2008, excluding new construction.

Commercial values (up 6.6 percent overall)

Services: up 12.6 percent
Lodging: up 12.5 percent
Offices: up 12.1 percent
Vacant land: up 11.4 percent
Retail: up 8.6 percent
Warehouses: up 7 percent
Apartments: up 4.6 percent
Restaurants: up 1.9 percent

Residential values (down 0.7 percent overall)

Condominiums: down 1.6 percent
Single-family homes: down 1 percent
Manufactured homes: up 0.9 percent in courts and 1.2 percent on land
Vacant land: up 2 percent

Change-of-value notices were mailed last week, and nearly all should have been received by now, Chief Deputy Dennis Pulsipher of the Thurston County Assessor's Office said Thursday.

Thurston County is home to about 115,000 commercial and residential parcels, divided among 43 taxing districts. Among the entities that collect taxes are the county, cities, fire and school districts, he said.

Residences and businesses receive a notice only if their property increased or decreased in value.

Phil Weston of Tenino, who lives near McIntosh Lake, was stunned to learn that the value of his land increased nearly 80 percent to $163,150 in 2008 from $91,650 in 2007.

The value of his house did not increase as much. The total value of his land and building rose 36 percent to $302,350 from $222,550, according to assessor data.

Still, Weston, 60, a special education teacher at North Thurston High School, is concerned about his financial future when his new property tax takes effect in 2009.

"If it keeps going up like this, it's going to force us out of our house," Weston said, referring to a potential property tax increase. Higher assessments don't necessarily lead to higher property taxes.

Chief Appraiser Gene Widmer said the demand for lakefront property tends to drive up values. He acknowledged Thursday that the assessor's office might have been too conservative in assessing McIntosh Lake properties last year, resulting in the large increases this year.

He said that last year, there were home sales of $390,000 or higher in the area that increased values in the reassessment.

The Westons paid $190,000 for their 1,400-square-foot property four years ago.

Weston disputes the assessor's findings and plans to appeal the new assessment. He said he has done little to improve the house's value, and while the lake is pretty to look at, you can't swim in it because of milfoil, garbage and dioxins. Hundreds of fish have died in the lake, he said.

Next page >>