Webmaster
02-20-2007, 12:08 PM
Pierce County has begun sending out 2007 property tax bills for some 300,000 parcels. We asked four homeowners to talk about their bills.
DAVID WICKERT; The News Tribune
Pierce County homeowners, brace yourselves. Your 2007 property tax bills are in the mail.
County residents collectively will pay nearly $923 million in property taxes this year on bills the county assessor-treasurer's office began mailing Friday. That's up nearly 10 percent from a year ago.
But data released by the office show some people will see much higher increases:
In Eatonville, Orting and Steilacoom, average bills increased 23 percent. The average DuPont bill rose 22 percent.
In Fircrest, the average tax bill rose just 2 percent. In Tacoma, the average increase was about 5 percent.
University Place residents had the highest average tax bill: $4,215. Wilkeson residents had the lowest, at $1,900. The average Tacoma bill was $2,973.
Average tax rates declined in nearly every Pierce County community. But rising property values more than offset lower rates for many residents.
If you're looking for someone to blame, you might have to look in the mirror. Of the total property tax revenue Pierce County will collect this year, voters approved about $371 million – or more than 40 percent – in the form of levies and bonds for schools and other services.
But the assessor-treasurer's office expects plenty of queries from angry taxpayers in coming days.
“We always ask them, what did you vote for this year?” said Billie O'Brien, the office's administrative manager. “If they voted for more emergency management services coverage in their area, if they voted for a maintenance and operations bond for their schools, those are the things we talk to them about when they call.”
NO EFFECT YET FROM COOLING MARKET
Assessor-Treasurer Ken Madsen's office began sending bills for about 300,000 parcels Friday. Many are sent to mortgage companies, so taxpayers don't see them. Others are mailed directly to property owners.
The office did not release an average tax bill for the county because tax rates vary widely from community to community. But average bills were up in every community, as well as unincorporated areas.
It's the assessor-treasurer's job to calculate and collect property tax bills, and it's no simple matter.
There are 123 taxing districts in Pierce County: everything from schools to sewer districts, from parks to the Port of Tacoma. Many districts overlap.
The assessor's office calculates your tax rate based on where you live. For example, Tacoma residents pay taxes to 11 districts, including the city, the state, the county, Tacoma schools, metropolitan parks and the port. Add them up and city residents pay a combined tax rate of just over $13 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
Assessed value is the other key factor affecting taxes. The assessor's office determines residential property values based on the housing market.
Until recently, that market has been red hot. Last summer the assessor's office reported the average Pierce County single-family home gained 22 percent in value in a single year, reaching $252,072. That followed a gain of nearly 20 percent the previous year.
The housing market has cooled in recent months. But this year's taxes are based on last year's values, so don't expect to see a tax benefit from the slow market, at least not yet.
While the assessor's office determines assessed values, O'Brien stressed that it does not control the market.
“Buyers and sellers set the market in Pierce County,” she said.
BIG INCREASE IN SOME AREAS
That's little consolation to George Rybolt. He lives in a Steilacoom home with a view of Puget Sound. His tax bill shot up more than 30 percent this year, and he's not happy about it.
“What are they doing with all this money?” he said.
The answer, in part, is paying for schools. According to the assessor's office, schools account for 39 percent of Steilacoom's tax rate.
Voters last February approved a $23.4 million, four-year maintenance and operations levy for Steilacoom schools. It cost the owner of a $400,000 home about $1,036 a year.
The assessor's office values Rybolt's house at $487,400. His new tax bill tops $5,400. With assessed values rising fast, he wonders what future bills will look like.
“I could sell the house, but I don't think a senior should have to do that,” the 68-year-old Rybolt said. “I love Steilacoom and the house I live in.”
The Steilacoom schools measure also was a factor in the 22 percent rise in the average DuPont property tax bill. Orting's 23 percent rise also was due in part to a voter-approved school levy.
Eatonville's 23 percent average tax hike was due in part to a voter-approved school construction bond. But there also were unusual circumstances.
Last year an Eatonville emergency management levy expired because the district failed to ask voters to renew it. Voters later approved an EMS measure, and the taxes again will be collected this year.
Initiative 747, approved by Washington voters in 2001, also was a factor in Pierce County property tax bills. The measure limits the growth of property tax revenue governments can collect to 1 percent annually.
I-747 has contributed to lower tax rates throughout the county, O'Brien said. But it does not cap individual tax bills or the assessed value of homes. And voter-approved tax increases are not counted toward the 1 percent revenue cap.
If property taxes sound complicated, they are. O'Brien said the office expects many calls in coming days as people try to understand their bills.
“Of course, some of them are upset,” she said. “Nobody likes to pay taxes.”
PROFILES
rest of the article: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6375523p-5687043c.html
DAVID WICKERT; The News Tribune
Pierce County homeowners, brace yourselves. Your 2007 property tax bills are in the mail.
County residents collectively will pay nearly $923 million in property taxes this year on bills the county assessor-treasurer's office began mailing Friday. That's up nearly 10 percent from a year ago.
But data released by the office show some people will see much higher increases:
In Eatonville, Orting and Steilacoom, average bills increased 23 percent. The average DuPont bill rose 22 percent.
In Fircrest, the average tax bill rose just 2 percent. In Tacoma, the average increase was about 5 percent.
University Place residents had the highest average tax bill: $4,215. Wilkeson residents had the lowest, at $1,900. The average Tacoma bill was $2,973.
Average tax rates declined in nearly every Pierce County community. But rising property values more than offset lower rates for many residents.
If you're looking for someone to blame, you might have to look in the mirror. Of the total property tax revenue Pierce County will collect this year, voters approved about $371 million – or more than 40 percent – in the form of levies and bonds for schools and other services.
But the assessor-treasurer's office expects plenty of queries from angry taxpayers in coming days.
“We always ask them, what did you vote for this year?” said Billie O'Brien, the office's administrative manager. “If they voted for more emergency management services coverage in their area, if they voted for a maintenance and operations bond for their schools, those are the things we talk to them about when they call.”
NO EFFECT YET FROM COOLING MARKET
Assessor-Treasurer Ken Madsen's office began sending bills for about 300,000 parcels Friday. Many are sent to mortgage companies, so taxpayers don't see them. Others are mailed directly to property owners.
The office did not release an average tax bill for the county because tax rates vary widely from community to community. But average bills were up in every community, as well as unincorporated areas.
It's the assessor-treasurer's job to calculate and collect property tax bills, and it's no simple matter.
There are 123 taxing districts in Pierce County: everything from schools to sewer districts, from parks to the Port of Tacoma. Many districts overlap.
The assessor's office calculates your tax rate based on where you live. For example, Tacoma residents pay taxes to 11 districts, including the city, the state, the county, Tacoma schools, metropolitan parks and the port. Add them up and city residents pay a combined tax rate of just over $13 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
Assessed value is the other key factor affecting taxes. The assessor's office determines residential property values based on the housing market.
Until recently, that market has been red hot. Last summer the assessor's office reported the average Pierce County single-family home gained 22 percent in value in a single year, reaching $252,072. That followed a gain of nearly 20 percent the previous year.
The housing market has cooled in recent months. But this year's taxes are based on last year's values, so don't expect to see a tax benefit from the slow market, at least not yet.
While the assessor's office determines assessed values, O'Brien stressed that it does not control the market.
“Buyers and sellers set the market in Pierce County,” she said.
BIG INCREASE IN SOME AREAS
That's little consolation to George Rybolt. He lives in a Steilacoom home with a view of Puget Sound. His tax bill shot up more than 30 percent this year, and he's not happy about it.
“What are they doing with all this money?” he said.
The answer, in part, is paying for schools. According to the assessor's office, schools account for 39 percent of Steilacoom's tax rate.
Voters last February approved a $23.4 million, four-year maintenance and operations levy for Steilacoom schools. It cost the owner of a $400,000 home about $1,036 a year.
The assessor's office values Rybolt's house at $487,400. His new tax bill tops $5,400. With assessed values rising fast, he wonders what future bills will look like.
“I could sell the house, but I don't think a senior should have to do that,” the 68-year-old Rybolt said. “I love Steilacoom and the house I live in.”
The Steilacoom schools measure also was a factor in the 22 percent rise in the average DuPont property tax bill. Orting's 23 percent rise also was due in part to a voter-approved school levy.
Eatonville's 23 percent average tax hike was due in part to a voter-approved school construction bond. But there also were unusual circumstances.
Last year an Eatonville emergency management levy expired because the district failed to ask voters to renew it. Voters later approved an EMS measure, and the taxes again will be collected this year.
Initiative 747, approved by Washington voters in 2001, also was a factor in Pierce County property tax bills. The measure limits the growth of property tax revenue governments can collect to 1 percent annually.
I-747 has contributed to lower tax rates throughout the county, O'Brien said. But it does not cap individual tax bills or the assessed value of homes. And voter-approved tax increases are not counted toward the 1 percent revenue cap.
If property taxes sound complicated, they are. O'Brien said the office expects many calls in coming days as people try to understand their bills.
“Of course, some of them are upset,” she said. “Nobody likes to pay taxes.”
PROFILES
rest of the article: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6375523p-5687043c.html