PORT ANGELES — Robin Rush, who owns a small house on five acres of land on Tara Lane, was stunned when he received his re-evaluation.
“The price of our land more than doubled,” he said. “I figured it out at 112 percent.”
Rush, who lives in the Monroe Road area southwest of Port Angeles, said he thought his taxes would climb about 11 percent.
“Home” becomes a four-letter word at this time of the year.
It’s when county assessors mail out notices of their re-evaluations of real property, most of them going to homeowners.
Reading what their lots and houses are worth at a fair-market value can lead from shock to rage to fear that their taxes will climb by the same degree.
That’s usually not so.
Governments with a few exceptions may increase their income from property taxes by only 1 percent a year, thanks to Initiative 747 that voters approved in 2001.
That amount is divided among all the millions of dollars of assessed value across the county. That division determines each government’s levy rate.
Initiative 747, which replaced a 6 percent cap, was declared unconstitutional by King County Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts in June.
But Roberts’ order has been stayed while state Attorney General Rob McKenna appeals it.
Meanwhile, the 1 percent lid remains in place, and Clallam County Assessor Pam Rushton doesn’t know yet how it will change individual property owners’ tax bills.
The bills are the responsibility of Clallam County Treasurer Judith Scott, whose office will put them in the mail on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.
Re-evaluation notices went out Oct. 6 for the 7,200 properties in unincorporated Clallam County on both sides of Port Angeles, plus some neighborhoods in the city that Rushton’s employees physically inspected this year.
One sixth of properties in the county receives such inspections each year on a rotating six-year cycle.
Market, assessments up
The new 2006 total assessed value for this area is nearly $1.22 billion, up from 2005’s total assessed value of nearly $830 million, Rushton said.
She said that that the booming real estate market, plus a lot of new construction, drove up the amount.
“This market has been a little crazy,” she said.
Notices for the remaining 30,000-plus properties went out Oct. 27.
These re-evaluations are based on a computer model that compares each home to similar houses that were sold in 2005.
Because the model uses year-old sales figures, the computer re-evaluations usually lag behind current prices, Rushton said.
By state law, assessors must value property for taxes at 100 percent of its fair market price.
Assessor offers to talk
Rush, who lives on a fixed income after retiring after 40 years as a teacher and school administrator in Fresno, Calif., is worried about how he will pay his taxes.
“We paid just over $2,400, $1,200 each time” in property taxes that are due twice a year,” he said.
“I figure that this year it’s going to be $2,600 to $4,000.
“It’s hard. Each year, we have to dig into savings, which isn’t the largest amount that you’d want. A teacher’s retirement isn’t very much.
“Now we’re able to do it. Next year, it’s going to be tougher to do it, and it’s just going to get worse and worse.”
Rushton was surprised at that sort of jump.
“Somebody like that should definitely come in and talk to us,” she said.
“We have to depend on the taxpayers to make sure our information is correct.
“We’re human. we could have some bad information down here.”
Property owners may contact or visit the assessor’s office in the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
They also can call 360-417-2400. West End residents may call 360-374-5324.
