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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tax Bills Can Get Confusing In Bi-County School Districts In/Around: Nine Mile Falls, Suncrest, Deer Park

Bruce Krasnow Staff Writer

While property tax bills almost always seem complicated, some people who own property in the North Side’s suburban school districts have an additional variable: a taxing district that straddles the Spokane-Stevens county line.

That means tax bills for those owning property in the Nine Mile Falls or Deer Park school districts are utterly unpredictable.

For 1994 tax bills, owners in Spokane County felt the relationship as their home values surged more than 50 percent because property had not been revalued in several years. Values in south Stevens County stayed the same, as only one-quarter of Stevens County is revalued annually.

As a result, taxes for some people on the Stevens County side of the school district declined as taxes for some property owners on the Spokane side doubled.

Not so in 1995, when the valuations of more than 8,000 parcels in southern Stevens County, including Suncrest, Lake Spokane, Tum Tum, Loon Lake and Deer Lake, were increased to coincide with market demands.

Suncrest, Lake Spokane and Tum Tum residents send their kids to Nine Mile Falls schools. Students from Loon Lake and Deer Lake go to Deer Park schools.

Based on levy rates established by each county assessor, property owners in Stevens County are seeing tax increases twice that of Spokane.

The gap is especially severe in the Nine Mile Falls School District, where the value of existing homes in the Stevens County part of the district surged 51 percent. Increases for property on the Spokane County side of the district, now on an annual revaluation cycle, averaged 20.5 percent.

The market increase in Stevens County property also affected the state school levy.

The state Department of Revenue sets tax rates for each county, and if the property value in Eastern Washington increases faster than that on the West Side, as it has, the state collects a greater share of its money here.

The school levies in both counties increased more than the state average - 35 cents per $1,000 valuation in Stevens County and 23 cents per thousand in Spokane County.

Stevens County Assessor Blanche Estep said residents have come to expect steep increases in value - and consequently taxes - once every four years.

“Each one gets their turn in rotation,” she said. “A lot of people are aware they’re often getting a break until then.”

One Loon Lake property owner said his property’s assessed value stayed at $59,005 for four years and was bumped last year to $126,930. The result was a 68 percent property tax increase this year.

Bill Millhorn said he would prefer to see gradual increases rather than a big jump once every four.