Property owners should know of options

To The Eagle:

The Eagle for February 24, 2011 front page story "Board offers plan to equalize" and the February 25, 2011 Daily News article "Puget Island taxes too high" both address a system that is broken and in need of reform. Checks and balances that are supposed to protect the tax payer are inadequate and those that do exist have been compromised by actions of persons in the County Assessor's office going back for several years.

I remember the public statement by a former Assessor, that went something like "I will not fire the appraiser to keep my job." She did not fire him and she lost that election to Sulema Zerr. Unfortunately Sulema Zerr did not moderate the extremely aggressive actions of the appraiser and she lost her bid to remain the Assessor to Bill Coons. Bill has a better chance to make a difference because the appraiser "on steroids" has retired.

The problem with the Assessors Office goes well back before a lost election. I was told some years ago by a County Commissioner and the Office of Prosecuting Attorney that since the Assessor is an elected official it is up to the public to replace any person that cannot (or will not) do a proper job. That sounds good in theory but does not work in practice. The Office of Prosecuting Attorney did, at that time, look into my findings and found that the Assessor was citing outdated state documents in her written response to my letter of concern. He informed her of his findings, but what else was she doing wrong?

Who is responsible for certifying the procedures and actions of the County Assessor Office? An office that changes with every election. The referenced Eagle story contains the statement "The statutory deadline for the assessor to certify the tax role is July 1, but previous Assessor Sulema Zerr didn't certify the role until December, 2010, Nikkola said."

When will she be prosecuted for violating the statutory deadline? Who is supposed to take action as a result of this infraction? Is it the BOE? Is it the state Department of Revenue (DOR)?

The only "good news" in the referenced news reports is that the "excessive assessed values for 2010" are for only property on Puget Island. The "bad news" is the County Treasurer used the inflated assessed values for Puget Island properties in the 2011 Tax and Assessment Statement. The improper actions of the prior County Assessor have now infected the Office of the County Treasurer.

What should the property owners on Puget Island do? The current County Assessor, the BOE and many of us taxpayers have gone on record that the 2010 tax assessments are much too high, some over 20 percent too high. Who wants to pay more than their correct amount while the BOE gets ready to do what should have been done in 2010. I do not fault the BOE. In case I have not been clear I fault the prior County Assessor and the state DOR for what has happened. A gross lack of oversight and accountability.

I am afraid to pay the full amount of the tax bill I have in hand. Why? If I do, I feel that someone (in some official capacity) will claim that because I paid my inflated tax bill (based on the inflated assessment) I now show that I agree with the assessment and my petition will be thrown out. To be true to my own assessed value (documented in my petition) I can calculate a much more realistic tax for my property by using the Levy Rate in the published tax bill.

County officials need to officially advise the Puget Island property owners of their options. Paying the full amount of an inflated tax bill should not be the only option. I do not consider an alleged quote from the County Assessor reported in a Daily News article as "official advice."

Bill, I wish it could be that easy.

Don Koenig

Puget Island