Gains in county’s residential property assessments set record
BY JIM SZYMANSKI
THE OLYMPIAN
South Sound’s booming housing market and recovering economy are contributing to record gains in Thurston County property values.
For the second year in a row, Thurston County set a record for gains in residential property tax assessments.
This year’s overall 12 percent gain beat last year’s 8 percent gain, which was a record dating back to at least 1999, according to Dennis Pulsipher, the county’s chief deputy assessor. Such gains are reflected in 108,000 assessment notices scheduled to be mailed Wednesday to property tax payers.
New assessments reflect that the construction boom is relatively recent.
Of $5.2 billion in new county construction in the past 15 years, 24 percent of it has been added to tax rolls in the past two years, Pulsipher said.
Taxpayers often mistakenly think rising assessed values will mean higher property taxes, Pulsipher said. But he was unable to predict during an interview Monday whether property taxes will rise or fall next year.
He said tax rates payable next year will not be known until taxing districts—such as cities and fire and school districts—approve their 2006 budgets later this year. Tax rates are determined not only by assessments, but also by the budgets in taxing districts, he said.
The assessment notices compare this year’s property assessments with last year’s. Tax bills for this year’s assessments will go out in February.
Record activity
There’s a record $695 million in new construction activity in the county this year, a 25 percent increase from $554.9 million last year, Pulsipher said.
He said South Sound’s housing boom has been leading the way toward rising assessments.
September’s record $238,000 median home sales price was up 27 percent from the $188,000 median a year earlier.
“There are primarily four reasons for the building boom,” Pulsipher said. “Demand for homes is high, interest rates have been low, land is relatively affordable, and the cost of building materials has been rising.”
Low interest rates allow more buyers to qualify for homes. And, Realtors said, higher land and home prices in Pierce and King counties are boosting demand for more-affordable Thurston County homes.
Assessment notices generate appeals filed by property taxpayers every year.
Generally, 1 percent of the notices mailed are appealed, said Patricia Costello, Thurston County assessor.
She doubted that the higher assessments this year would increase the number of appeals.
“It will be probably about the same,” she said. “It’s been a consistent 1 percent.”