Sound Politics Public Blog: King County Assessor ignoring reality

July 09, 2008

King County Assessor ignoring reality

I'm sorry, but a 13% property tax assessment increase for 2009 is outrageous. My assessment card showed up today with a 13% increase for 2009, and even I can't believe the gall of this county to hike assessments in the face of home value declines and a mortgage crisis that is going to hit the Puget Sound much harder before it's over.

Someone needs to tell King County Assessor Scott Noble that home prices peaked in King County in 2007. Home prices are down in King County 4.4% over the last year. My zip code is down 4%. So what the heck is Scott Noble doing raising my assessment, and the assessed valuation of homes here 17% above their adjusted value from last year? And with the reality that this market is only going to get worse before it gets better, how big an increase is this actually going to be?

I downloaded the assessor's Executive Summary report for my area. What a crock! Nothing but a load of bull, based on sales that completely ignore the homes pulled off the market, or those languishing on the market losing value. I have two friends myself sitting on homes on the market for over 6 months unable to sell, while they watch their asking price drop and drop.

Recently it was King County Sheriff Rahr on TV telling the criminals that she didn't have the money to enforce the law or investigate crimes, and now here comes Sims and Noble rocketing assessments upwards to raise more revenue.

Where is a good bulldozer when you need one? Not to bulldoze my home, but to bulldoze this county government feeding off of all of us.

Posted by mjcostello at July 09, 2008 06:45 PM | Email This

Comments

1. Perhaps we need something like Prop 13 in Washington?

More here.

Posted by: Smoley on July 10, 2008 11:40 AM

2. It is damn well time for a proposition 13 in this state. I have seen the evaluation of my place completely double in 3 years.

Posted by: gs on July 10, 2008 11:50 AM

3. I also saw where the state percentage or portion was nearly doubled this year by the Democratics in Olympia. They made a big deal about the 1% they passed last session, because they left open all the holes to allow them to increase it by 10% and more every year.

Thieves!

Posted by: gs on July 10, 2008 05:25 PM

4. There's a (lengthy, painful bureaucratic) process that you can start to challenge your assessed value. Someone even told me a long time ago that there was a class (not for credit or anything) at North Seattle Community College that taught homeowners how to successfully challenge their assessment.

Of course, getting it revised downward could affect the market value if you ever sold. And the larger problem is that for every homeowner that successfully challenges there are 10,000 who ignore it and pay.

But at least there's some recourse!

Posted by: AD on July 11, 2008 12:12 AM

5. Mike -- I see that the King County Assessor valuation for your house is actually slightly higher than what zillow.com shows currently for your property. For my house, zillow.com is several percent higher than the King County Assessor's valuation.

Both the King County Assessor and zillow.com use mass appraisal software. I assume that the Assessor has somewhat better software. I know that zillow.com uses the property characteristics in the King County Assessor computer file to run its calculations.

However, the King County Assessor -- by law -- has to use the sales data for the two full calendar years preceding the year in which the assessment is calculated. Right now in 2008, the assessment figures for 2009 property taxes are being issued. So the sales data for property from 2006 and 2007 are being used to make these calculations.

So basically, the county assessments now being issued should approximate the average price that your house could have sold for during the January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007 time frame. For many properties, this calculated value may be more than the present sales value, due to recent declines in real estate prices.

Posted by: Richard Pope on July 11, 2008 08:01 AM

6. The notorious Island county assessor has raised our property values by 200% in just the last 3 to 4 years. Where’s the 1% maximum all the Democraps fell all over themselves to vote in and sell to the public. Hell I am nearly paying double now in just a few years.

I wandered over to Whidbey Island today, the seat of Island County, because I was looking for a frickin Golden Palace.

There must be one there somewhere……

Posted by: gs on July 12, 2008 08:18 PM