Equalization board reviewing Puget Island appeals

The Wahkiakum County Board of Equalization this week is presenting a plan for handling property assessments from Puget Island.

Board Chair Nick Nikkala, Deep River, and Clerk Colleen Haley, Grays River, reviewed progress on Puget Island appeals at the Tuesday meeting of the board of county commissioners.

Nikkala reported that Haley had put in hundreds of hours and about 200 hours or work still remain.

Nikkala said the board had established classifications for parcels on Puget Island, verified sales data from 2006-2010, and made a trending chart.

Of the 719 parcels reviewed, 71 percent show a decrease, 26 percent show an increase, two percent are unchanged. Some of the properties with anomalies will receive further review. Nikkala said the work must be completed, including notices being sent to the public by August 11, or the Department of Revenue would take over.

“There are problems with records in the assessor’s office," he said. "From our standpoint, his (Assessor Bill Coons) request for additional help is valid.

“Ours is not a perfect system. We’re trying to create an objective system,” he said.

Nikkala said that no one could understand what was the basis for valuations of former appraiser Mike Funderburg. His successor, appraiser Denny Bryant, said he couldn’t figure out the system so he had to go with what Funderburg had done.

“We are trying to be more objective," Nikkala said. "All of the properties with Columbia River frontage should be the same, as long as it’s the same one. If it’s buildable, it’s one value, another if it is not buildable.

"The Department of Revenue (DOR) continues to plague us. They don’t want us doing this; maybe they don’t want to see counties do this, I don’t know.”

After the remaining parcels are evaluated, the tax role must be certified by the county assessor. “He’s assured us that will happen,” Nikkala said.

Haley said a DOR employee said she felt Haley should be at the courthouse, using county email, and not her personal answering machine and home address. DOR has also raised issues of favoritism. “She said, one commissioner lives on the Island, one board member lives on the Island,” Haley said.

“We’re not looking at names,” Nikkala said, “we’re looking at parcel numbers.”

For those properties with an increase, the new valuation will not go into effect for 30 days.

“We expect appeals. We’ll work through them,” Nikkala said.

A public meeting was set for last night (Wednesday) at the Norse Hall to describe the process.