PORT ANGELES — Two Clallam County commissioners want a legal opinion on the board’s ability to lower taxes on certain types of property.
Commissioners Jim McEntire and Bill Peach voted Tuesday to direct Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols to determine whether the county can separate personal property from real property and eliminate the county’s portion of the personal property tax levy.
Commissioner Mike Chapman abstained, saying in a later interview that he declined to vote because he had missed a discussion on the request last week.
County lawmakers this year unanimously lowered the sales tax rate by 0.2 percent and have indicated they would not take the allowed 1 percent property tax increase for 2016.
Personal property tax
McEntire, a Sequim Republican who is running against Democratic challenger Mark Ozias in the Nov. 3 general election, has suggested eliminating the personal property tax levy to help businesses and create jobs.
Tangible personal property is a tax term for property that can be physically moved like furniture and office equipment, according to www.investopedia.com.
Real property is property attached to land, including buildings, and the land itself, the finance website said.
Reducing or eliminating the personal property tax levy, Peach said, is an “opportunity for us to decrease taxes but not impact the taxes that are already being received by the junior taxing districts, which is the hospital, the schools.
“That’s the thing that I’d really like to be guarded about,” Peach said in the weekly board meeting Tuesday.
“I totally favor the decreasing of taxes, but I don’t want to do it at the expense of the other junior taxing districts.”
Said McEntire: “This question deals only with the county government’s property tax levies.
“It has nothing to do with any of the other taxing districts.”
The county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will “tell us what the law actually is regarding personal property tax levies and other property tax levies,” McEntire said.
McEntire invited County Assessor Pam Rushton to offer her views on the property tax proposal.
Independent opinion
Rushton said she would provide information to Nichols’ office and has asked a state Department of Revenue attorney for an independent legal opinion.
McEntire has raised the subject of property tax relief during commissioner reviews of the preliminary and recommended budgets for 2016.
Commissioners will approve a final budget no later than Dec. 8.
In other board action Tuesday, commissioners called for a Nov. 10 hearing on the six-year Transportation Improvement Program.
The proposed plan includes a list of funded and unfunded county road projects for 2016 through 2021.
The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Room 160 at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
