Snohomish County Assessor’s Office Gail S. Rauch Snohomish County Assessor Cindy S. Portmann - Chief Deputy Assessor Chuck Sessler – Appraisal Manager

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What is the Assessor’s 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

Scope The listing of all taxable real and personal property within the geographic boundaries of Snohomish County are within the office’s jurisdiction, including property within incorporated cities.

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

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

What else is the Assessor’s 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

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)

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

Senior Taxing Districts Washington State School Levy (1) General Purpose Local Governments (21) –County Government (1) –City Governments (20)

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

Property Tax Distribution Which local governments receive property taxes? 5.6¢ Fire Districts 10.8¢ General Uses 4.0¢ Ports & Hospitals 13.2¢ Cities & Towns 60.4¢ School Districts 6.0¢ County Roads

Tax Facts 10.8 % General Revenues 6.0 % Road Fund 83.2 % Other Jurisdictions $63.1 M $35.7 M

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

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

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

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

Annual Reval Plan Starting in 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

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

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

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

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

Advances in Technology Resulted in Increases in Efficiency In 1975 the office had 118 employees In 2002 there were 71 FTEs In 2003 we will have 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

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