Snohomish%20County%20Assessor

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Snohomish County Assessors Office

• Gail S. Rauch
• Snohomish County Assessor
• Cindy S. Portmann - Chief Deputy Assessor
• Chuck Sessler Appraisal Manager

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Snohomish County Voters

Legislative Council Executive Judicial Courts Judges Judicial Courts Judges
Administrative Administrative Administrative Administrative
Assessor Airport Airport Human Resources
Auditor BRB/BOE BRB/BOE Human Services
Clerk Corrections Corrections Information Services
Prosecutor Facilities Facilities Medical Examiner
Sheriff Finance Finance Parks Recreation
Treasurer Hearing Examiner Hearing Examiner Planning Development Srvs
Public Works
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What is the Assessors job?

• Washington State law requires that Assessors
• Assess all real and personal property in the
  county at 100 of true and fair market value in
  money, unless specifically exempted by law
• Fair market value or true value is the amount
  that a willing and unobligated buyer is willing
  to pay a willing and unobligated seller

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Scope

• The listing of all taxable real and personal
  property within the geographic boundaries of
  Snohomish County are within the offices
  jurisdiction, including property within
  incorporated cities.

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Real Property

• Includes land, improvements to land, structures
  and certain equipment fixed to structures
• Assessor values property using one or more of the
  following methods
• Market or sales comparison
• Cost Approach
• Income

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Personal Property

• The primary characteristic of personal property
  is mobility
• Personal property includes furnishings, machinery
  and equipment, fixtures, supplies and tools
• Most personal property owned by individuals is
  specifically exempt.
• If these items are used in a business, personal
  property tax applies

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What else is the Assessors office responsible
for?

• Administration of exemption programs such as
  senior citizen and non-profit
• Administration of special programs
• Open Space
• (Farm Agricultural, Timber, and General)
• Forest land
• Historical Restoration

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Workload Indicators

• 250,000 real property parcels to assess
• 13,500 personal property accounts
• 49.3 billion in assessed value
• 1 billion added for new construction each year
  for the past 5 years
• 9,000 senior exemptions
• 28,500 phone calls (main customer service line
  only)

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Why do we have property tax?

• Taxing districts levy taxes to deliver services
  that taxpayers want and authorize
• Also used to pay for special voter-approved
  levies such as school maintenance and operation
  levies and bonds, and emergency medical levies

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Senior Taxing Districts

• Washington State School Levy (1)
• General Purpose Local Governments (21)
• County Government (1)
• City Governments (20)

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Junior Taxing Jurisdictions

• Junior Taxing Jurisdictions (59)
• School Districts (15)
• Fire Districts (24)
• Health District (1)
• Library Districts (1)
• Water-7 Sewer-3 Districts (10)
• Ports Districts (2)
• Hospital Districts (3)
• Transit (3)
• Other Recreation, Convention, Diking, PUD

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Property Tax Distribution
Which local governments receive property taxes?
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Tax Facts
10.8 General Revenues
6.0 Road Fund
83.2 Other Jurisdictions
63.1 M
35.7 M
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Current Assessment Cycle

• 4-year Reval Cycle 1999 2003
• County divided into 4 areas
• Each area inspected and revalued once every 4
  years
• Results in different levels of assessed values
• Distribution of some tax levies are not at the
  same level

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Iniative 747

• I-747 limited the amount a taxing district may
  levy, but did not affect assessed values
• Some taxing districts may have banked levy
  capacity that allows them to increase their
  budgets more than 1
• Voter approved special levies are not affected by
  the 5.90 limit, 1 limit and I-747

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Does an annual reval mean more taxes for
Snohomish County?

• No.
• Snohomish County will not receive more property
  taxes by changing to an annual reval
• The levy rate will decrease as a result of the
  assessed value increasing

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Annual Reval A goal we have been working towards

• Standards, Accountability Reorganization
• Using technology
• GIS
• CAMA
• Ascend
• Tablet computers for field appraisers
• Working with Planning Development

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Annual Reval Plan

• Starting in 2004 - revaluation will be done
  annually
• 1/6 of property in the county will be physically
  inspected and updated to market value
• All property that is not physically inspected
  must be statistically updated annually
• New 2004 assessed value used to calculate taxes
  owing in 2005

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Benefits of an Annual Reval

• Uniformity
• All property is closer to market value
• Level of assessment
• Tax burden distributed more equitably
• Predictability
• Helps taxpayers and taxing districts

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Uniformity

• All property is assessed every year at market
  value
• Particularly important if market values begin to
  decline
• Assessed values are not fixed for 4 years

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Level of Assessment

• Tax burden is distributed more equitably
• Particularly important for county-wide levies
  such as the
• state school levy
• county levies
• other levies that cross area boundaries

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Predictability

• Large increases in assessed values that result
  from a 4-year cycle are
• difficult for taxpayers to accept
• misunderstood (40 increase in A/V must equal
  40 increase in taxes)
• result in the area that has just been revalued
  carrying a larger share of some taxes than the
  other 3 areas

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Advances in TechnologyResulted in Increases in
Efficiency

• In 1975 the office had 118 employees
• In 2002 there were 71 FTEs
• In 2003 we will have 69.85 FTEs
• More than a 40 decrease in staff
• In 1973 there were 147,500 parcels
• In 2003 we will have over 250,000 parcels
• More than a 69 increase in workload

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Exemption Programs andSpecial Classifications

• Open Space Classification
• Improvement Exemption
• Destroyed Property Claims
• Designated Forest Land
• Historical Restoration Exemption
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Senior Citizen/Disabled Person Exemption