Some residents get new property assessments, confused by national crisis

SAM TAYLOR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Howard Haycock is baffled about his property assessment.

The value of his property increased by about 25 percent over the last four years, according to information he recently got in the mail from the Whatcom County Assessor's Office. Others he knows, Haycock said, have seen increases from 40 percent to 150 percent.

How could the Assessor's Office do that in a time of national economic crisis, Haycock wondered. And just look at what is happening with property values and home sales now, he said.

Haycock isn't alone in his concerns, said Assessor Keith Willnauer. Though his office receives an annual barrage of complaints and questions about property revaluations, this year many of the concerns center around how a person's property value could increase at a time where some are fearing a recession and others are screaming about a potential depression.

"That's the question we're hearing most dramatically," Willnauer said, "which is, do we know what's going on in the real estate market and 'How could you possibly increase anybody's value relative to this market?'"

One fourth of the county was reassessed this year: the area around Lake Whatcom, Sudden Valley, Geneva, south of Lakeway Drive in Bellingham and Lummi Island. The average value for residential property and homes increased by about 40 percent, Willnauer said.

The assessor said his office is explaining to people that the issue is largely due to Whatcom County being on cyclical revaluation cycles, as are 19 other counties in the state. In this county, property is revalued once every four years. That means the Assessor's Office is having to take into account the last four years, when the county saw property values skyrocket.

County Executive Pete Kremen's most recent proposed budget, yet to be approved by the County Council, proposes replacing the Assessor and Treasurer's software system, which could lead to annual valuations. That may take the sting out of the process for some. That change, however, is years down the road.

Willnauer said his office, even as recently as two weeks ago, was taking into account the current situation with the real estate market.

"Even with the market where it is today, it's still quite a bit different from where it was four years ago," he said. "So there was just no alternative."

Haycock's concerns are understood, but Willnauer said he has no choice but to follow state law. The county can't simply stop doing revaluations.

The increases aren't as severe as those experienced by northeast county property owners in 2007, when many property values doubled. That's because they were the last area of the county to be revalued before the area saw the major boom.

Others get concerned about how the property value might affect their taxes.

To be clear, property tax increases and property revaluations aren't the same thing. Just because a valuation went up 40 percent doesn't mean taxes will increase that much.

Property taxes are calculated on how much governments need and can take from taxpayers vs. the value of properties in the various taxing districts. New construction helps spread the tax demand among more homes, theoretically lessening the tax burden per homeowner. But governments also increase the money they need to operate, raising the tax level.

Of course, a home value being increased by, say, $100,000 in a revaluation may make it difficult to see a tax break even if governments decreased their tax demand.

The Assessor's Office is still working to finalize tax rates, Willnauer said.