Franklin County Assessor

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Franklin County Assessors Office
Why Annual Revaluation

• Steve Marks
• Franklin County Assessor

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• Mid-Columbia news Franklin County assessors to
  re-evaluate properties every year Published
  Monday, December 31st, 2007
• JOE CHAPMAN HERALD STAFF WRITER
• Franklin County residents will begin seeing their
  properties reassessed by the county assessor's
  office every year starting in 2008.
• The frequency will be a change from the
  assessor's previous schedule of re-evaluating a
  quarter of the properties once every four years.
• "It promotes uniformity for all taxpayers so you
  don't have one area of taxpayers paying on a
  value that's different from another area of
  taxpayers," said Franklin County Assessor Steve
  Marks.
• While some may cringe at the thought of annual
  reassessments, Marks said the upside is that the
  changes in value should be less abrupt.
• For instance, instead of a property value staying
  flat for three years, then going up 40 percent in
  the fourth year, it may increase 10 percent each
  of the four years.
• Adjusting values annually makes the value changes
  more predictable for residents, Marks said.
• "That's one of the big issues in a lot of the
  property tax initiatives that go around People
  want predictability in property tax," he said.
• John Gurtisen, who lives in the 2600 block of
  West Margaret Street in Pasco, said he wouldn't
  have any complaints about annual reassessments.
  He expects to see increases in his property
  values because of the improvements he has made,
  he said.
• This year, he spent 10,000 installing a new
  roof, fence and shed.
• Even on a four-year schedule, the assessor's
  office typically would re-evaluate properties the
  same year improvements were made, Marks said.
• Gary Hart, a farmer outside of Connell, said his
  concern is that the assessor's office wouldn't be
  as quick to lower values in a downturn as it
  would be to increase them. Crop values are
  factored into farmland values in Franklin County,
  and the crop prices can be especially volatile,
  Hart pointed out.
• Marks said his office would be just as responsive
  to downturns as increases.
• "Whatever the market says, we'll respond. And if
  it goes down, we'll go down," he said.
• Benton County residents already have had their
  properties reassessed annually for more than a
  decade. In all, 18 Washington counties are on
  annual reassessments, and 19 reassess values once
  every four years.

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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
  Franklin 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, Open Space, and General)
• Historical Restoration
• Administration of levy process

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History of Significant Changesin the Property
Tax System

• Revaluation Act of 1955
• property reval cycle established at a 4-year
  interval
• 1971 WAC 458-07-015
• Legislation allowing annual updates without
  physical inspection if appropriate statistical
  data is available

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History - continued

• 1982 Additional law changes
• Allowed counties with an annual reval plan to
  lengthen the period between physical inspections
  from once every 4 years to at least once every 6
  years
• 1995 2008 Advances in technology
• Franklin County Assessor Office switched from a
  paper environment to a PC environment and
  implemented CAMA systems and other technology
  that will allow us to change from a 4-year reval
  cycle to an annual cycle.

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????Annual Revaluation????
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Previous Assessment Cycle

• 4-year Reval Cycle 2004 2007
• 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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Annual RevalFrequently Asked Questions

• Why is Franklin County changing from the 4-year
  reval cycle to an annual cycle?
• How will it impact the property owners and tax
  payers of Franklin County?
• How will it affect my individual property?

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More Questions

• Does an annual reval mean more taxes for Franklin
  County?
• Will an annual reval help any taxing districts
  collect more tax?
• When will this change occur?

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• Why is Franklin County changing from the 4-year
  reval cycle to an annual cycle?
• How will it impact the property owners and tax
  payers of Franklin County?
• How will it affect my individual property?

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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 (30-35 increase in A/V must equal
  30-35 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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Annual RevalStill Subject to Tax Limits

• Statutory Rate Limit
• Limits regular levy of each taxing district
• 5.90 Limit
• Aggregate regular levy rate of all senior and
  junior taxing districts cannot exceed 5.90

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Annual RevalStill Subject to Tax Limits

• 1 Constitutional Limit
• State Constitution limits the regular (non-voted)
  combined tax rate to 1 or (10 per 1,000) of
  A/V
• Initiative 747
• Taxing districts regular levy limited to 101 of
  highest levy since 1985, plus amounts
  attributable to new construction. Prior to I-747
  this was 106

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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 Franklin
County?

• No.
• Franklin 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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Will an annual reval help any taxing districts
collect more tax?

• Possibly. If a district is at its statutory
  limit
• For example A Fire District is at their limit of
  1.50 and as a result cannot increase their
  budget by the 1 allowed by I-747 and the
  districts value increases enough to lower their
  rate to less than 1.50, it would allow the
  district to ask for the additional 1 they would
  not have received without the new assessment.

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Annual Reval A goal we have been working towards

• Standards, Accountability Reorganization
• Improving our level of accuracy on property
  characteristics.
• Improving our review process
• Using technology
• GIS (Geographic information system)
• Computerized mapping
• Color Aerial photos
• CAMA (Computer assisted mass appraisal)
• Laptop/Tablet computers for field appraisers

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Annual Reval Plan

• Starting in 2008 - 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 2008 assessed value used to calculate taxes
  owing in 2009

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ANNUAL REVALUATION PLAN
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Historical Information
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I-747
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• Questions??