Officials seek path to address high property assessments

Wahkiakum County officials are searching for a way to lower taxes.

New Assessor Bill Coons and the Wahkiakum County Board of Equalization agree that 2010 assessments on Puget Island were higher than they should have been.

Coons said Tuesday that he and the board had done independent studies of sale values and reached the same conclusions.

"The issue is, what is a fair value for property on Puget Island," Coons said. "We both reached the conclusion that the assessed values are too high."

Both, however, are searching for a way to address the problem. They've consulted with the state Department of Revenue and haven't reached a resolution, Coons said.

Part of the problem is that previous Assessor Sulema Zerr didn't certify the tax roles until December. Normally, officials said, the tax roles are to be certified in July, and property owners have a 28-day period in which they can appeal their assessments to the assessor of the board of adjustment.

Equalization board Chair Nick Nikkila and board clerk Colleen Haley on Tuesday reviewed the problem with the county board of commissioners.

"Normally, the Board of Equalization here in Wahkiakum County receives 20 or less appeals to property assessments each year," Nikkila said, reading from a written statment. "This past year, we received 165 appeals."

The vast majority, he said, were from Puget Island, which had just been revalued under the traditional four-year assessment update cycle.

"Puget Island property values were recently updated by the previous assessor from January, 2006, to January, 2010," Nikkila said. "A significant number of Puget Island residents were surprised to learn the assessor had determined their property values increased despite the long-term economic downturn.

"Now that the assessment role has been certified, we can move forward in regard to these appeals. Our choice is to hear each individual appeal or to equalize property values on the island."

Nikkila said the board has compared data from property sales on the Island over the last several years with the most recent valuations by the assessor’s office.

"We came up with a universe of 88 sales for which we established the ratio of assessed value to sale price," he said.

In 27 percent of the cases, the ratio was less than 100 percent, meaning the property owner is paying less than they should in property taxes.

In 72 percent of the cases the ratio was greater than 100 percent, meaning the property owner is paying more than they should in property taxes.

In looking at the bell shaped curve, 34 percent fell within plus or minus 10 percent of the ideal 100 percent; 56 percent fell within plus or minus 20 percent, and 68 percent fell within plus or minus 30 percent.

"This indicates property valuations for 44 percent of the Island properties are incorrect by more than 20 percent," Nikkila said. "Given the above, a majority of the board favors moving forward to equalize the properties on Puget Island."

Nikkila had hoped that the board could wait until next July and then, during the 28 day window, finalize equalization of the Island for the 2010 assessment year. However, he learned Monday in a conversation with DOR personnel that the July, 2011, appeals period had to be limited to appeals of 2011 revaluations.

"We are asking the county prosecuting attorney, who is also legal counsel for the board, to review the appropriate statute and render an opinion whether this information is correct," Nikkila said.

If the board is precluded from addressing the 2010 assessments in July, Nikkila said, there appear to be two remaining options--1., submit a formal request to the DOR for authorization to equalize or, 2., conduct hearings on the appeals currently before the board and perform an island-wide equalization for 2011 next July.

"Submitting a formal request for the authority needed is not a task to be taken lightly," Nikkila said. "It will probably take a month to complete. Once submitted, there is no guarantee the request will be approved. Staff at the DOR have been professional and helpful. Nonetheless, I have a gut feeling there is an agency bias that does not favor authorization to equalize.

"My biggest concern is that we could go down this path and neither achieve our goal nor have the time to hear the current backlog of appeals. As a result, we will have failed to provide our fellow citizens with the equity they deserve.

"With this in mind, if we are precluded from equalizing the 2010 assessments of Puget Island properties during the July session of the board, I feel the best way to insure the concerns of those property owners are appropriately addressed is through the appeal hearing process. That will address the expressed concerns over the 2010 assessments and, over the late spring and early summer, the board can position itself to complete an Island-wide equalization for the 2011 assessments in July."

"If we don't do something, the board will lose its credibility," Haley said.