Lake Chelan Valley Property Tax Update and the Manson Parks Levy!
I still get quite a few questions about what is happening with property taxes in the Chelan area for 2009. So, here is an update! Property valuations in the Lake Chelan area went up an average of 123% (or 2.23 times the previous valuation) for 2009. The total valuation in the valley went from about 1.3 billion dollars to over 3 billion dollars. That $1.7 billion dollar increase locally created an increase in the overall county’s total assessed value of about 24%.
What does that all mean for taxes? Local levies, for fire districts, schools, hospitals and such things should see a drop in levy rate, to less than half the previous amount. So, for most local levies, if your property valuation went up the average amount (2.23 times the old valuation) you won’t see an increase in the local part of your property taxes. If your property went up less than that amount, and many did, your local levy taxes may actually drop. Waterfront and view properties often went up more than the average amount and will carry a larger part of the local taxes.
One local levy to watch is the Manson Parks levy. They originally were looking to collect 145 thousand dollars but the way the levy was actually approved was a millage rate based on the old valuations. So, they can actually take up to 2.23 times the $145k the voters were asked for.
In a recent public meeting, the Manson Parks Board apparently voted to do just that and increase their take by 105 thousand dollars to 250 thousand dollars total! That is less than they could have taken, but is still far above what the voters probably think they approved. So, those in the Manson Parks district will be seeing both the approved levy and that increase on their property taxes in 2009. If you don’t like that, I would suggest attending a Manson Parks Board meeting, or writing them a letter, and letting them know while they could still change their minds before 2009 taxes are assessed.
For those taxes that go across the county, like the State School Tax, County Current expense, Regional Library, Port District and in some places the County Road levy, the story gets more interesting. Since the new valuations locally increased the overall county valuation by 24%, the millage rate should decrease to about .80 (or 80%) of 2008′s county wide levy rates. So, the way I figure it, to estimate your part of the county wide taxes you would take your ratio of your new 2009 valuation to your 2008 valuation (2.23 is the average valuation increase) and multiply it by 0.8. So, the even if you have the average valuation increase in the area you will be paying about 1.8 times as much of all county wide taxes next year!
If you could figure out your local taxing districts from the 2008 Levy Book, you might be able to figure out which portion of your taxes are local versus county wide taxing districts. You could apply the two methods described above to estimate your potential taxes for 2009. Of course, that would be assuming that the taxing districts do not raise their tax amounts. There are limits, not counting voter approved rate hikes, on how much the taxing districts can increase taxes. I believe the limit is 1% in total. However, if the state decides there is an emergency and again tries to increase the 1% overall limit, all bets are off. Some tax districts which haven’t taken their 1% increase in the past may have banked those past increases and may be able to take more than a 1% increase next year. Budget crunches are in the news and voters will need to be extra wary now and into 2009 that they keep their local and state governments aware of their wishes regarding property taxes increases.
As far as appeals, the Board of Equalization rejected 25, they accepted 290, of which 70 stipulated a value, 50 withdrew and the Board began hearings on Nov. 12th. They expect it will take about 1 ½ months to hear all those appeals to the Board of Equalization. In working with some of the taxpayers during the appeal process, there were some cases where information was presented to the assessor’s office that they were previously unaware of which created the need for adjustments to some fraction of the appeals.
The Assessor’s office is continuing work on the new software project to allow annual revaluations across the entire county. When implemented, it should prevent the huge jumps we saw in the Chelan Valley this year and the shifting of tax burden across the county from year to year as we experience in the current system. Currently, the county revalues ¼ of the county each year thus each area is revalued once every four years.
So, if folks want to keep their taxes under control, stay informed and let your local taxing authorities know your expectations. The situation with Manson Parks is an example of how taxes can increase well beyond the voter’s expectations.
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