Homeowners in Bellingham and Whatcom County are experiencing an increase in home valuations as a result of several factors. They include:
· Scheduled reassessment, which occurs every four years
· Self-imposed taxes in the form of new levies or bond issues recently voted into existence. These may include school levies, increased levy support for specific fire districts, the Greenways levy (for Bellingham), construction of the new City Hall in Lynden, and various other city-specific levies or bond issues within Whatcom County; and,
· The number of taxing districts that affect a given property.
Home revaluations do not necessarily generate a property tax increase. Why? Because taxes are levied against a group of properties (such as a taxing district), not by a specific home or property within that taxing district, according to Whatcom County Tax Assessor, Keith Willnauer. Homeowners wishing to appeal their increased home valuations may do so through the end of December, 2006.
Washington state limits property tax increases to one percent annually. Some taxing districts elect not to request an increase each year; Whatcom County was one such taxing body that did not request a tax increase for 2007, according to the December 21 issue of The Bellingham Herald.
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Whacked with Assessed Property Values
Whatcom County homeowners will be paying property taxes for the next four years based upon assessed property values that are about 46% over-valued, according to recent published information.
County property values for 2007 taxes were established from (comparable) area sales near the time of the sales price peak. This will have greater impact on owners of new homes constructed or purchased in the last two or three years.
My new home was completed 11/03. Since the initial assessment, the new fair market value was raised by 29.5%, 137% on land and 9% for the building, on the recent 2006 assessment. Since 11/03, about 65 new homes have been constructed in my Ferndale neighborhood. Several of these new homes and resales have not sold at their current over-valued asking prices.
Homeowners of newly constructed homes should not be stuck with these assessed 46% over-values until 2008. Anticipated housing price declines for the next four years should be factored into the assessed property values based upon the reported 46% housing market over-value.
With all of the increased overall tax base, I hope the levy rate will result in a decreased tax bill for me in my taxing district.
- G.Palmer, Ferndale
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