The King County Department of Assessments will be mailing out 2009 property value notices over the next few months. The County Assessor‘s Office is responsible for determining the valuation of properties of 160 taxing districts in King County – the City of Lake Forest Park just being one of these taxing districts.

Due to the downward changes in the housing market, most homeowners will see a significant reduction in the assessed value of their home. However, this does not mean significant drops in property taxes for 2010. In some cases property owners may pay the same or even more taxes in 2010 than in 2009.

When many people think of taxes, they usually think of rate-based taxes. Washington State property tax, however, is not rate-based (48 states use a rate-based system). In a rate-based system, property taxes go up when assessed valuation increases and property taxes go down when valuations decline.

Property tax in Washington is levy based. This means that a taxing district may collect a specified dollar amount in any year, subject to certain legal limits. This amount is limited to a 1% increase from one year to the next unless voters approve a larger increase. Under Washington‘s system, the taxing district typically figures their total property tax based on the prior year‘s total property tax revenue plus up to a 1% increase.

The county assessor then calculates the tax rate necessary to raise that money. This rate is determined by dividing the amount of money needed by the total value of all property within the jurisdiction. The tax rate is typically expressed in dollars per $1,000 of assessed value; for example, $1.14 per $1,000 of assessed value for the City of Lake Forest Park. So if the total value falls, the rate would increase to raise the same amount of money.

One piece of land may fall under the jurisdiction of many separate taxing districts. For example, Lake Forest Park taxpayers pay nine different taxing districts (see chart below).

The primary reason that property taxes have increased is the result of voter-approved levy increases. In 2008 there were 30 measures throughout King County to increase property taxes — 23 of those measures were approved by voters.

Another area covered by the Assessor‘s Office is the list of 103 possible tax exemptions that "exempt" certain properties from the tax rolls. Examples of exemptions include qualifying low-income seniors or disabled persons, qualifying historical properties, publicly–owned lands, and churches. Exempt properties result in shifting the tax burden to non–exempt property owners.

If you have questions regarding your property valuations, visit the Department of Assessments website or call (206) 296-7300. There is a time limit on valuation appeals, so contact the Assessment Office soon after you receive your Value Change Notice.

This article is based on an article appearing in Shoreline Currents, published by the City of Shoreline, June 2009, used with permission.

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